MALAND, Maxine Gladys (nee Wicks) 1915-2006

MALAND, WICKS, ERICKSON

Posted By: K. Kittleson
Date: 12/2/2008 at 20:32:18

Service:
Saturday, January 7, 2006
Saint John Evangelical Lutheran Church
200 South Main Street
Charles City, Iowa

Maxine Gladys Wicks, the daughter of Cryder and Nettie (Erickson) Wicks of Kanawha, Iowa, was born on September 26, 1915. The Wicks family of six children grew up in this predominately Norwegian immigrant farm country in north central Iowa where the St. John’s Lutheran Church served as a center of their family and community lives.

Graduating from Kanawha High School in 1933, Maxine was a forward on the girl’s basketball team, acted in school plays, sang in school musicals, co—directed the local 4-H club, taught Sunday School and acted as pianist for St. John’s Lutheran Church of Kanawha from 1933-1940.

She received her Teacher’s Certificate from what is now the University of Northern Iowa at Cedar Falls and taught in the one-room country school house near her home.

On June 23, 1940, Maxine Wicks married former Kanawha resident and recent graduate of the Iowa State University Veterinary College, Dr. Paul Maland. Paul and Maxine settled in Charles City, raised five children—known as “the 5 J’s”—and celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary last June 23, 2005.

It is a challenging task to honor the whole fabric of another’s life with adequate words, so picture Maxine Maland’s nine decades of living as a richly colored quilt of daily engaged Life!—woven together with strong dominant threads of love, kindness, compassion, a deep faith in God, service to community, and an ever-present ear listening to others with heart and mind.

Day by day, Maxine cared for “the 5 J’s”, answered the phone and scheduled “Doc’s” veterinary calls, was active in St. John Lutheran Church on numerous committees, was a choir mother, Sunday School and Bible School teacher and a member of WELCA. She was an active parent in PTA, Boy and Girl Scouts and other school committees.

Maxine also enjoyed her volunteer work with the Ladies Hospital Auxiliary, Virginia Tietz’s second grade class at Jefferson School as a reading assistant, and her relationships in PEO, Women’s Club, and weekly get-togethers with women friends at their McDonald’s coffee group.

In addition to all of these community connections and devotion to her family, and her ten great grandchildren, two of the most meaningful threads to Maxine’s life were her work as a Hospice Volunteer, where she and Paul were recognized as Hospice Volunteers of the Year in 1993, and her role as mentor and friend to a young mother’s group here in Floyd County, being nominated for “State of Iowa Mother” in 1974. The friendship, the fun and love among this group of women and their families, has nurtured and sustained Maxine for always and forever.

Maxine was also known to be an excellent cook who delighted many over the years with her Norwegian kringla, and raspa kumla, apple pie and potato salad.

In later years Maxine truly enjoyed each grandchild and great grandchild and felt blessed to be an important part of their lives. After attending countless concerts and sporting events of their own children, she and Paul continued to enjoy those of the grands- and great-grands.

Maxine Maland is survived by her husband, Paul of Charles City, Iowa; daughters, Judy and her husband, Kip Hauser, and their children, Laurie, Rebecca, and Stephen; Janet, and her husband, Roger Hanson of Fenton, Missouri, and their children, Kristen and Kurt; Jeanine Maland, of Asheville, North Carolina, and her daughter, Molly Maland; sons, Jim Maland and K.D. Maynard of Brattleboro, Vermont, and their children, Emily and Tyler; and Jerry Maland and his wife, Jane, of Harrison, Arkansas, and their children, Justin, Jenny, Jeff, and Jessica. And so dear to Maxine are her 12 grandchildren, their spouses and their delightful families, ten great-grands in all! In addition are Maxine’s loving sisters, LaVonne Nosbusch of Los Angeles, California, and Carole Basler of Thousand Oaks, California and sister-in-law, Imogene Wicks of Belmond, Iowa.

She was preceded in death by brothers, Orville, Everett and Raymond Wicks, along with her nephew, Randy Wicks.

[Hauser Funeral Home obituary - www.hauserfh.com]