Esther Susan Willis

WILLIS, RYBARCZYK, BIESZK, WESTFALL, STAIRS, MATLOCK, MARINKOVICH

Posted By: Skipton
Date: 8/11/2012 at 17:27:26

Funeral Services were 3 p.m. on Monday, August 6, 2012, at the Ralph J. Wittich-Riley-Freers Funeral Home. Burial took place in Greenwood Cemetery. Visitation was from 2 to 3 p.m. on Monday, August 6, 2012, at the funeral home. Online condolences: www.wittichfuneralhome.com .

Esther Susan Willis, 93, of Muscatine, died on Thursday, August 2, 2012, at Trinity Hospital – Muscatine.

Pastor Lee Willis Jr. officiated. Casket bearers were Joe Willis, Tyler Willis, Jamie Osborn, Sean Stewart, Brad Peck, and Dameon Westfall. An honorary bearer was Michael Westfall.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorials be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Iowa Chapter, (for Esther Willis), 4150 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines, IA 50266, in honor of great-grandson, Sean Peck, her little ‘buddy’.

Esther was born on November 5, 1918, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of Joseph and Sophie Bieszk Rybarczyk. She married Larry Edward Willis on October 10, 1945, in Dubuque. He preceded her in death on March 22, 1975.

She and her husband operated the Airport Supermarket in Columbus Junction for several years. She also had worked at Bob’s Red and White Foodland and was active in the childcare program at First Presbyterian Church for several years.

Those left to honor her memory include her five children, Karen Westfall and husband, Malvin, of Tipton, Diane Stairs and husband, Blair, of Des Moines, Lee Willis and wife, Barbara, of Muscatine, Gloria Matlock of Muscatine, and Jerry Willis and wife, Sue, of Kalamazoo, Michigan; one daughter-in-law, Debbie Willis of Tipton; nine grandchildren, Michael Westfall, Kristi Peck and husband, Brad, Malvin Westfall II, Lee Willis Jr., Heather Willis, Jennifer Stewart and husband, Sean, Joe Willis, Kelly Osborn and husband, Jamie, and Tyler Willis; three step-grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren, Rayona, Katrinia, and Michael Robert Westfall, Madeline and Sean Peck, Dameon and Emerald Westfall, and Fletcher and Livia Stewart; nine step-great-grandchildren; one sister, Dorothy Marinkovich and husband, George, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; one son, Alan Willis; and one brother, Leonard Rybarczyk.