vleft this world to join her family in heaven on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. She passed peacefully, surrounded by family. She was born in Missouri, on February 20, 1936, to Lois and George VanOstran. In 1953 she married Ralph J Smith.
For many years, both Ralph and “Marie” as most people knew her, worked at the Southern Colony, providing care for developmentally disabled youth. This was work that Marie would continue for her entire life. Over the years she took in many different foster children and disabled adults, several lived with her and her family for decades.
Marie and her family were active in Scouts and their church, in Union Grove. They lived closely with their extended family, parents, and siblings. They also had wonderful neighbors that Marie kept in touch with long after moving away.
In 1974, the family moved north to central Wisconsin and started farming in Arpin. The small holding on Hwy 186 was soon outgrown and they chose to expand, buying and moving to the farm just East of Auburndale in
- There, Marie resided until March of 2022, when she moved to join her daughter and son-in-law in their home.
Marie wore many hats in her 87 years. She was a caregiver in every sense of the word. She took care of whoever or whatever needed her, and she did it with gentle kindness, but also with a no-nonsense firmness.
She was well-known to never waste, and she did things with a keen sense of practicality that spoke clearly of her life experience of leaner times. She could fix whatever she put her hand to, one way or another. She never met a job too daunting or too complicated to be surmounted and she could outwork anyone, man woman or child, until she was well into her 80’s.
Marie’s church, her faith and her family were always foremost in her life. She served as church deacon and held offices in the lady’s organizations in the UCC and Presbyterian churches in Arpin. She taught Sunday school, cleaned, helped with remodeling projects, and did repair and maintenance work in the church, when it fell to her.
It’s likely that if you knew Marie in relationship to her church, you remember her in the kitchen. She cooked for thousands of people over her life and never allowed folks to leave her kitchens hungry. She had the ability to make anything from scratch, without a recipe. Some of the favorites she was known for were her Chicken and noodles, her potato salad, her cinnamon rolls, her biscuits and gravy and her apple pie. Our fondest memories of her will always be linked to her kitchen, where her round table was “always big enough to squeeze in one more”.
Marie was also a skilled farmer. She tended stock, nursed sick animals, planted crops, stacked bales, milked cows, maintained a grade A dairy milkhouse, jockeyed huge farm equipment and coordinated multiple working projects for decades.
Marie was an avid gardener. She grew vegetables and fruits with the skill of a professional horticulturalist and produced incredible crops of healthy food for her family. She kept beautiful flowers and houseplants her whole life and it seemed she could make just about anything live and thrive.
Much of her summer was always dedicated to canning, freezing, and preserving winter stores for her family and she proudly passed on her knowledge and expertise to students, whether they were willing or not. The lessons of picking rocks and pulling weeds were taught to anyone within her reach. Some of the most joyous times Marie had in her life were working, alongside her sisters, growing, tending, and preparing food from their gardens, a skill and love passed on from their own mother.
Marie and her husband traveled extensively around Wisconsin and the Midwest during their married life and she never lost her passion for seeing new things or learning about the world around her. She traveled all over the US and as far as Alaska and Ireland. On her adventures, she was frequently accompanied by her friend and companion, Betty Strobel.
Marie possessed great skill as a seamstress and over the years she sewed thousands of miles with multiple machines. She created such diverse projects as wedding dresses, furniture coverings, quilts and blankets, and children’s clothing. Most recently her pet project was creating dresses for an orphanage in Ghana, Africa. She made over 600 dresses and was so grateful for donations of fabric that kept her going. She also made many practical household items that she sold to benefit her church.
The word most often associated with Marie was probably “strong”. She had to be. She worked hard, she took care of so many, she endured loss and grief that would have ruined others. But she did all of that with the grace and purity of spirit that never failed. She was generous to a fault, she never denied anyone what she had. Her most passionate hope was for peace and understanding. She gave that to this world and for that, those who knew and loved her are eternally grateful.
Marie will be missed, our hearts are jealous of the Angels as we grieve her passing. But she lives in the arms of her Lord and Savior and may she know only peace. We, her progeny, and all those she left behind will endeavor to remember her in all that we do, and we will honor her memory in the way that we behave towards one another, always.
Marie was predeceased by her parents, her husband, Ralph Smith, her four sons, Gary, David, Randall and Mark Smith, her brothers: Floyd and John VanOstran, her sisters Margie White and Mary Dullenty. She is survived by her brother, James VanOstran, her sisters, Gladys Jett and Mattie Brown, her daughter, Elizabeth and son-in-law, Jonathan Murphy, foster son Paul Talbot, her daughters-in-law, Terry, Cherrie, and Connie Smith. She is also survived by grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandson, and by her beloved fur-baby, Toby.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 11 at the First Presbyterian Church in Arpin. Visitation will begin at 10am, service at 11 and lunch to follow at the church. Pastor Jess Wakefield will officiate, and Rembs Funeral home will be assisting the family.
Author: News Desk
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