Berglund, Marilyn (1938-2016)

BERGLUND, GROSS, GISSEL, GREENE, SEIM

Posted By: Colleen J Ossman (email)
Date: 1/23/2016 at 15:10:16

January 8, 2016
The Daily Freeman Journal

Marilyn Berglund, 77, of Stanhope, died Tuesday, January 5, 2016 at the Heartwood House in Ames. Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, January 11, 2016 at the Stratford Lutheran Church. Burial will be in Hardin Township Cemetery. Visitation is from 9 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. at the church on Monday.

Foster Funeral Home:

Marilyn Berglund, 77, of Stanhope, died Tuesday, January 5, 2016 at the Heartwood House in Ames. Memorial services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, January 11, 2016 at the Stratford Lutheran Church with Pastor Joe Lambert officiating. Burial will be in Hardin Township Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 9:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. at the church on Monday.

Marilyn Eileen Gross was born December 21, 1938 in St. Luke's Methodist Hospital in Cedar Rapids to Christine Amelia Gissel Gross and David Gross. She spent her earliest years in Cedar Rapids. The family moved and Marilyn attended grade school in Maynard and high school in Oelwein. Her devoted brother, Calvin, left for college when she was seven. She was confirmed at the Zion Lutheran Church in Oelwein on March 29, 1953. Marilyn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State College of Iowa in Cedar Falls in 1962 and went on to teach mathematics at Southeast Warren Community School and Stratford Community School.

On July 20, 1966 Marilyn was united in marriage to Carl Berglund and they made their home in rural Stratford. They were surprised with a chivaree given by relatives, neighbors and friends several weeks after the wedding. After Marilyn's retirement from teaching the following year she sold Avon and Fuller Brush and enjoyed calling on her neighbors. In 1989 they purchased a home in Stanhope where they resided until Carl's death in 2010 and Marilyn's move to an assisted living facility several years later.

Marilyn had an interest in knitting, sewing, healthy cooking, pets and all animals, and singing in the church choir. She was known for her sense of humor. Marilyn had a great love of horses from her earlier years on the family farm, which made it unwise to schedule any other activity on Kentucky Derby day. Marilyn typed, printed and distributed church bulletins, monthly newsletters and annual reports for the Stratford Lutheran Church and a few years for Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Stanhope as well. She enjoyed delivering the weekly church service bulletins to the members who lived in the Stratford Care Center and Athens Woods.

Marilyn was a member of the Stratford Lutheran Church, American Legion Auxiliary, American Legion poppy sales and flag placement, Stratford Lutheran Church Women, the church choir, Lutheran Companions, the President's Club of the University of Northern Iowa, and Svenska Klubben.

Marilyn is survived by her brother, Calvin Gross of Orange, CA; niece, Margaret Gross of Long Beach, CA; niece, Pam (Kent) Greene and their daughter Siri of Seattle, WA; sister-in-law, Norma Seim of Newton; Gissel, Gross, and Berglund cousins; many Berglund nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband.