Barbara Joan Marshall

TOLEDO-Barbara Joan Marshall, 84, of Toledo, passed away Sunday, November 15, 2020 at Sunny Hill Care Center in Tama. A Graveside Service will be held Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 11:00 AM at Woodlawn Cemetery with Father Dennis Conway officiating. It is recommended that everyone attending wear a mask and social distancing should be practiced as well.

Barbara Joan was born January 9, 1936, in Oak Park, IL, the daughter of Harold Eugene and Joan (Haggerty) Wilcox.

She attended parochial and public schools in Oak Park, IL through seventh grade. In the summer of 1948, her mother and step-father, Charles Marshall moved to Tama, IA and opened a small restaurant. Barbara attended 8th grade and high school in Tama, graduating in 1953. She attended Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, IL for two years while living with her aunt and uncle. She returned to Tama and married Francis J. O’Rourke of Marshalltown in 1956. They lived in Iowa City while he went to Law School graduating in 1959. They moved to Santa Ana, CA and then Tustin and had three children, Kathleen (Mike) Thiessen of FL, Maureen (Todd) Kratoska of Toledo, and Patrick (Karen) O’Rourke of Iowa City. In 1973, she returned to Toledo with her children.

Barbara loved music of all kinds, dancing, animals especially dogs, and gardening.

Her friends were many and varied and she wants you to know she loved every one of you, especially her classmates from the Class of 53.

She wrote this obituary herself so she would like to be remembered for her concern for others, the fun she had and shared and not for the mistakes she made.

She is survived by her beloved children; six grandchildren, Patrick (Megan) Thiessen, Eric (Yana) Thiessen, Ryan Kratoska, Allison (Eric) Homan, and Devan and Erin O’Rourke; and three great-grandchildren, Hailey Thiessen, Dominic Homan, and Mila Thiessen.

She will be buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Toledo along with her best friend and sweetheart, Albert Kremenak, whenever he joins her.

Memorials may directed to the South Tama County Food Pantry or the Tama County Humane Society.

Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home, Tama-Toledo is assisting the family with the arrangements.