Alice Marie Liefke (nee Bolden), 89, of Wilton died Thursday, March 18, 2010, at Cranberry Court Assisted Living Facility in Tomah.
She was born Oct. 21, 1920, in the Billings Creek area of rural Ontario. Marie was the fifth of seven children born to Phillip and Minnie (Belknap) Bolden. Her father died when she was 7 years old.
She attended Johnny Cake Grade School. At age 13, she moved to Wilton to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Carrie and Don Martalock. While working in Martalock’s Main Street Grocery Store, she developed a fondness for the people in her new hometown.
She graduated from Wilton High School in 1939. On Aug. 10, 1940, she married Gilbert “Chuck” Liefke in Waukon, Iowa. They were married for 48 years, until his death in 1988. They had one daughter, Pamela.
Marie worked at Tillman Produce for more than 20 years, followed by 18 years at Northern Engraving in Sparta.
She was a faithful member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Wilton for 69 years. She loved the activities of her church and the community events in Wilton. She loved flowers, and her houseplants were the envy of many. She enjoyed visiting with her neighbors, relatives and friends.
Marie moved to Tomah’s Cranberry Court in 2007, where she passed away March 18, 2010, with her daughter at her bedside.
Marie is survived by her daughter, Pamela, and Pamela’s husband, Robert Eaton, of Santa Ana, Calif.; two grandchildren, Elizabeth Eaton of Santa Ana and Thomas and his wife, Bre, of Newport, R.I.; and a special niece, Julitta Arndt, her husband, Marty, and their family; a dear sister and brother, Mary Langan of Edgerton, Wis., and Russell Bolden of Ontario; two sisters-in-law, Irene Bolden and Vivian Hall; and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Chuck; a brother, Lyman Bolden; a brother and sister-in-law, Neil and Dorothy Bolden; a sister and brother-in-law, Carrie and Otto Schroeder; a sister and brother-in-law, Myrtle and Otto Nofsinger; a brother-in-law, Bud Langan; a sister-in-law, Glenys Bolden; and a brother-in-law, Don Martalock.
Also preceding her in death were her husband Chuck’s sisters and brothers and their spouses: Zenoba and Frank White, Martin and Evelyn Liefke, Esther Liefke, Leonard and Carmen Liefke, Chuck and Mae Schelberger, Red and Inez Smithback, and Lavern Liefke.
She was a loving and devoted mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend and will be sadly missed by those who love her.
A funeral service was at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 23, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Wilton. Burial was in St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery. Pastor Kay Wold officiated. The Smith-Nelson Funeral Home, 702 Center St., Wilton, assisted the family with arrangements. Online condolences may be made at www.sonnenburgfamilyfh.com.
