Marian Gerdes

Marian Gerdes, age 79, of Marshalltown, Iowa, joined her husband in Heaven on the evening of February 8, 2025 at the Iowa Veteran’s Home in Marshalltown, Iowa.

Memorial services for Marian will be held on Saturday, February 15, 2025 beginning at 11:00 A.M. at the First Congregational Church in Marshalltown. A visitation for family and friends will be held one hour prior to services. In lieu of flowers, memorials in Marian’s name may be directed to Iowa River Hospice or to the family for a later designation. For additional information or to send a condolence to her family please visit www.mitchellfh.com or call 641-844-1234.

Marian Ann Broesder was born February 4, 1946 in Lone Rock, Iowa. She was the youngest of three children born to Lewis and Loretta (Walker) Broesder. Marian was raised in Lone Rock and attended school in Algona, Iowa. She would later graduate from Algona High School with the class of 1964.

On February 7, 1965, she was united in marriage to the love of her life, Raymond Gerdes in a little county church in Lone Rock. They made their way to Marshalltown, Iowa to begin their lives and had two daughters, LaRae and Shauna. Marian was an AVON lady and began working for the Marshalltown AEA 6 for a number of years. She began working as an administrative assistant for different doctors’ practices within the Marshalltown area. Marian and Ray were entertainers, she made a point to take time to host family and friends for coffee and card games. As they both reached retirement age, Marian and Ray did a lot of traveling. One goal was to see all of the freedom rocks throughout the state of Iowa. They loved traveling the back roads and went as far as having a large map in the garage of their roads they traveled and would highlight as they wanted to see if they could travel every road in Iowa. Ray passed away in 2018 after 53 years of marriage to one another.

Marian was a member of the First Congregational Church in Marshalltown. Her faith was important to her over the years and would always remain active within the church for the events held. She also loved to decorate the church. She loved being a grandma. She spent time with them holding many tea parties, they took the grandchildren every year to the Iowa State Fair, as well as children’s theatre events in Des Moines. Additionally, there are many memories of making mud pies in the back yard, carving pumpkins, and hammering geode rocks. She enjoyed trips shopping, decorating her home for all of the different holidays and having a large flower garden every year.

Those left to remember and cherish her memory are her daughters, LaRae (Troy) McGahuey of Marshalltown and Shauna Banks of Marshalltown; her grandchildren, Natasha (Jesus Paz) Banks, Kali (David) Ratigan, Raelene (Shannon Fleming) McGahuey and Raechel (Hunter Eygabroad) McGahuey; one great-grandchild on the way.

In eternal life, she joins her beloved husband, Raymond Gerdes; her parents, Lewis and Loretta Broesder; and her siblings, Laura Voight and Marvin Broesder.