Fortified with the Sacraments of the Holy Mother Church on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019 at age 90. Beloved wife of the late Ralph J. Muehlenkamp; loving mother of John, Tom (Terri), Anne, Edward and Joseph Muehlenkamp; dear grandmother to James and Mary Muehlenkamp; dear sister of Rosemary (the late Ezio) Ippolito, Clara Lou (the late Fred) Conlin, Leo (Dorothy) Godar, Antoine (the late Irene) Godar, Stephen (Ann) Godar, the late Edward (Kate) Godar, the late Daniel (Mary) Godar, and the late Aloys (Agnes) Godar; our dear aunt, cousin, neighbor and friend.
Marian grew up during the depression on a farm in a small home purchased from the Sears Roebuck catalog near Hardin, Illinois in Calhoun County, one of nine children of Edward and Nellie Godar. She was a proud graduate of St. Norbert’s grade school in Hardin, a 1947 graduate of Ursuline Academy in Arcadia, Missouri, and a 1950 graduate of the St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing in St. Louis. She worked at St. John’s Hospital for a decade following graduation, including time with her fellow nursing classmate and twin sister Rosemary. At St. John’s, Marian worked as a registered nurse in the maternity unit taking care of new moms – including the wives of two future St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famers — while her twin sister took care of the newborns. Following the death of her husband Ralph in 1971 at the age of 48, Marian raised five young children on her own in Affton, Missouri. Although she stopped her nursing career to raise a family in the early 1960s, she continued to make use of her nursing training during the 1980s when she provided loving and total memory care for her ailing and homebound mother, who lived with Marian and family for five years until Nellie’s death in 1985 at the age of 93. Marian was a parishioner of St. Dominic Savio Catholic Church for more than 50 years and an avid fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Turner Classic Movies channel, cooking, baking and gardening. The family wishes to thank the staff and residents of Charter Senior Living for their support. Memorials in lieu of flowers for nursing scholarships to Saint Louis University School of Nursing.
Services: Visitation at KUTIS AFFTON CHAPEL, 10151 Gravois Rd., from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13. Funeral Mass at 9:30 a.m. Monday at St. John Paul II (formerly St. Dominic Savio) Catholic Church, 7748 MacKenzie Rd, Affton Mo. Interment to follow at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery next to her husband, a World War II veteran and longtime civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force.