Marion Elizabeth (Degen) FUCHSEN

FUCHSEN, SCHILMOELLER, DEGEN, HOULIHAN, THOMAS, BEAVER, AVERY, MACKENZIE, DALY, GOFF, LOMBARDO, WASSON, BEDSAUL, OSWALT, MCCAULEY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 12/31/2011 at 13:31:55

July 10, 1921 --- November 25, 2011

Marion E. Fuchsen, 90, passed away Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, at Kossuth Regional Health Center. Visitation was Thursday, Dec. 1, from 5 – 8 p.m. at Oakcrest Funeral Services, Algona, with a Rosary at 5:30 p.m. and a Parish Prayer Service at 7 p.m. Services will be Friday, Dec. 2, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Cecelia Catholic Church.

Marion Elizabeth Fuchsen, the daughter of Henry and Elisabeth Schilmoeller Degen, was born July 10, 1921, in Granville. The family later moved to Geddes, S.D., and then Eagle Grove, where her father died in 1934. The family then moved back to Granville.

Marion, the eldest of eight, aided the family by going to work helping other families but was proud to earn her GED in the '60s. Later she went to cosmetology school in Sioux City and worked in Le Mars and then Sioux City. It was there that she met Lester (Sport) Fuchsen and they continued their courtship through many letters while he was serving in the Navy in the South Pacific during the war. They married in 1946, returning to Whittemore, where they bought the Fuchsen family farm and raised their family.

Marion was a member of St. Michael's Rosary Society, Catholic Daughters of America, the Whittemore Women's Club and Legion Auxiliary and her favorite, Bridge Club. Sport and Marion enjoyed a wonderful circle of friends and neighbors, including many returning GIs and their families. Their love of travel took them across the United States and to many countries, including Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. They were happily married for 34 years before Sport's death in April, 1985. Marion had great strength of character which was supported by her strong faith, her Catholic heritage and trust in God. She loved her family very much and relished all of the time she spent with not only her children and their families, but also her brothers, sisters and their families. Many of them joined her for a grand 90th birthday celebration in July, 2011.

She is survived by her sons, Thomas (Marianne) Fuchsen of Spencer, Kenneth (Elizabeth) Fuchsen of Baranduda, Victoria, Australia and daughter Karen (Thomas) Houlihan of La Crosse, Wis.; 10 grandchildren: Nicole (Todd) Thomas, of Cedar Falls, Benjamin (Stephanie) Fuchsen of Chicago, Ill., Sarah (Casey) Beaver of Spencer; Emma (fiancé Peter Avery) Fuchsen of Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia, Joseph Fuchsen and Sophie Fuchsen of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and Hugh Fuchsen of Baranduda, Victoria, Australia; Katie (Brian) MacKenzie of Denver, Colo., Thomas Daly of Dubuque, Molly Rose Daly of Navarre, Fla.; nine great-grandchildren: Noel, Natalie and Ella Thomas, Dellis, Samantha and Lily Beaver, and Brody and Liam MacKenzie; one sister: Florence Goff of Sioux City; two brothers: William (Anita) Degen of Algona and Rev. Jerome A. Degen of Ft. Dodge; four sisters-in-law: Virginia Degen of Holstein, Camilla Degen of Omaha, Neb., Ann Degen of Bancroft, and Helen Fuchsen of Dwight, Ill., and many nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her husband, her parents, and siblings: Esther Lombardo, Leonard Degen, Robert Degen and Donald Degen; in-laws; Vincent Lombardo, James F. Goff, Cecelia Wasson, Mae Bedsaul, Luella and Dee Oswalt, Ted and Minnie Fuchsen, Irene and William McCauley and Joseph Fuchsen. Oakcrest Funeral Services in charge of arrangements.

Algona Upper Des Moines -- Algona, Iowa
December 1, 2011