Marianne Wilkening

WILKENING, WEEDMAN, ROLLER

Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 6/20/2018 at 09:55:20

Marianne Wilkening, 78, of Iowa City, passed away on Saturday, May 19, 2018 at the Oaknoll Health Center in Iowa City.

Private family burial will be in Homewood Memorial Gardens in Homewood, Illinois.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 1:30 pm at Oaknoll Retirement Residence, 5th Floor, Spring Street building.

In lieu of flowers, Marianne requests that contributions be made to Friends of the Animal Center Foundation or the Crisis Center of Johnson County. Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service in Iowa City is handling arrangements.

Marianne was born on September 29, 1939 in Chicago Heights, Illinois to Anna S. Wilkening and Harold A. Wilkening. She graduated from Bloom Township High School and received a BA in Sociology from Carlton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Marianne continued her education by receiving an MSW from the University of Denver. She also received Post Master’s credits from Wisconsin State University, University of Illinois, National College of Education and Chicago State University.

Marianne began her social work career by working for the State of Wisconsin in Madison where she worked with infants available for adoption and the foster parents who cared for them. She then moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin where she worked with adolescent children in foster care and became the Foster Home Coordinator for an 8 county area. For 2 years she was the social worker at the La Crosse Home for Children, where she coordinated social work services for 25 emotionally disabled children in a residential treatment setting.

In 1971 Marianne moved to Kankakee, Illinois where she worked for the regional special education cooperative providing social work services to schools in that region. In 1978 she was hired by District 53 Bourbonnais school district, where she developed the 1st kindergarten screening program for that district. She also designed the 1st grade Health Ed. Curriculum, co-developed an Enriched Kindergarten Program and supervised undergraduate and graduate social work students.

In 1980 Marianne began working for District 146, Tinley Park, Illinois where she worked until her retirement in 2000. While there Marianne provided individual and group counseling for children and their parents in grades K-6, provided classroom sessions on teaching personal safety, social skills. and grief counseling. She wrote the district’s Special Services Newsletter for 8 years and provided training for teachers and parents on many topics. These included ADHD, classroom managements skills, identification of emotional problems in children, and staff teaming skills. She provided much support to teachers as the district moved into their Full Inclusion Program. Although Marianne enjoyed working at all of her placements, working at District 146 was her favorite, due to the commitment of the district to high quality of staff members and involvement with parents. Marianne developed close relationships with many parents while supporting them through difficult situations. Many of the friendships she developed there continued after she moved to Iowa.

After retirement, Marianne held a half-time position for 1 year as the Parent Services Coordinator for BRIDGES, a program for parents of children ages birth to age 5. In 2001, she made the great decision of moving to Iowa City, and purchasing a home in the wonderful Longfellow neighborhood. She later moved with her dog, Jenny to a home owned by Oaknoll Retirement Residence. After Jenny died, she moved into the Oaknoll Spring Street addition where she enjoyed many activities and friends.

She was involved in many community and church activities – she volunteered at Longfellow School for 5 years, with RSVP tutoring activities and the Pen Pal program. Through Zion Lutheran Church, Marianne delivered communion and bulletins to homebound church members, helped Zion support the COMPEER program in Iowa City and participated in the Prayer Chain.

In her leisure time Marianne enjoyed gardening and all types of yard work, reading, cooking and baking – especially Christmas cookies that she learned from her Swedish mother. Marianne had 3 wonderful companions through her life, her great dogs – Peanuts, Chacho and Jenny. She enjoyed gathering with friends and staying involved with friends that resided in Illinois.

Marianne is survived by her loving sister, Dorothy Weedman of North Liberty. She is also survived by a niece, Ann (Richard) Roller of Iowa City and three nephews, Leif (Susan) Wilkening of Locust Grove, Virginia, Harold (Carol) Wilkening III of Orange Park, Florida and William Weedman Jr. of North Liberty. Also surviving are 11 wonderful great nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother Harold Jr. and a brother in law, William Weedman.

Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
 

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