Marianna Schilling

Marianna Schilling, 83, of Bancroft, Nebraska died on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at Mercy Medical in Sioux City, Iowa. Funeral services for Marianna will be held on Monday, September 29, 2008 at 2:00 P.M. at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Bancroft. The visitation will be held on Sunday from 3:00 until 8:00 P.M. at the Munderloh Funeral Home in Bancroft. Burial will be in the Bancroft Cemetery. Marianna Ward Schilling was born on June 9, 1925 in Bancroft, Nebraska, in the house she lived in most of her life, to Clement and Florence (Thompson) Ward. She died September 24, 2008 at Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa. At 83, even after a “first-ever in Nebraska” repair procedure, her big heart finally gave out. Marianna, a proud life-long teacher, was correcting the grammar of her nurses, family and visitors up to the very end. She had a warm, open, loving personality and easily engaged others of all ages in conversation. She knew no strangers. Marianna married Glenn Schilling on June 5, 1949 in Bancroft. They raised four children there, with Randall Ward Schilling preceding them in death on January 25, 1979. Glenn passed away on July 3, 2003. She is survived by: a daughter and her husband, Rebecca and Jerry Wortman of Rosalie, NE, and their children Angela Wortman and Jason and wife Pam Wortman and children Dalton, Dayne and Halle; a daughter and her husband, Beverly and John Zwygart of Bancroft, Ne and their children Natalie Zwygart and Allison and her husband Sol Jacobsen; a son and his wife William C. and Sherry Schilling of Oxford, OH. and their children Benjamin and Courtney Schilling; a daughter-in-law and her husband, Gail and Doug Brand of Seward, Ne and their children Eric Randall and wife Natalie Schilling and son Luke, Kylie and husband Jason Penke and son Tate, and Kristin Brand; a brother and sister-in-law, Addis T. and Beverly Ward of Lincoln, NE; and sister-in-law and her husband Shirley and William McDonald of Rancho Cordova, CA; and many nieces and nephews. Family, friends, travel, casinos, cardinals and the Huskers were her passions. She visited all 50 states, every Canadian province and at least 15 countries, making friends and correcting grammar at every stop. Most fittingly, she kissed the Blarney Stone in Ireland on three trips. She cherished contact with former students – many who were children of older former students. On repeated educational tours of Washington, D.C. she “adopted” numerous young teachers, taking them under her wing. Marianna graduated from Bancroft High School in 1943 and was proud to speak at the school’s Alumni Banquet every few years. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1949 (BS in Education – English and Social Studies majors) after teaching at Bancroft-area “one room” School Districts #32 and #37 (Paine School) from 1943-45. In Lincoln she made life-long friends at the Sigma Kappa sorority and developed her love for all things UNL. Upon graduation and after marriage she resumed her service to Bancroft-area schools: 1949-50 7th and 8th grades, 1964-67 secretary to superintendent Ken Echtenkamp, 1967-82 high school English, 1982-87 7th and 8th Bancroft/Rosalie. She also was Bancroft’s news correspondent for the Wisner News-Chronicle from 1954-67. Always involved in her community, Marianna was a lifetime member of the John G. Neihardt Foundation, serving on its board of directors; and was president of the Music and Drama Club, Bancroft Fun Club and BHS Alumni Association over the years. She was very proud of her lifetime membership in the Nebraska Alumni Association and her Admiralship in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska. Missing her greatly are her family and friends, numerous granddogs, and hundreds of students whose lives were touched by this wonderful lady. Memorials may be made in her honor to either Bancroft-Rosalie Community Schools Foundation, 708 Main Street, Bancroft, Ne 68004, or the Randall Ward Schilling Memorial Scholarship Fund, University of Nebraska Foundation, 1010 Lincoln Mall, Ste 300, Lincoln, Ne 68508.