Mildred Marx

Mildred Lois Marx, 99 years and 10 months, Centralia, passed away Sunday, November 25, 2007 at Eastridge in Centralia where she had resided since January, 2004.

Mildred was born January 5, 1908, on the family farm southwest of Centralia to Ethel Howard Schmidt and Fred Schmidt. She attended rural schools near Centralia and graduated from Centralia High School in 1925. She taught at Mt. Vernon and Center Schools and took the Normal Training program for teachers during the summer. In the fall of 1927, Mildred began teaching third and fourth grades in Centralia. She met a young teacher and elementary school principal named Roy E. Marx from Bushong, Kansas, who came to Centralia to be the elementary principal and teach seventh and eighth grades. Mildred and Roy were married June 19, 1928, in Holton, KS.

They opened the Marx Ready to Wear Store in Centralia on March 9, 1929. Their store was a major factor in the business life of the community for the next forty-four years. After retiring in 1973, they traveled extensively seeing most of the United States, traveling to Alaska and taking a Caribbean cruise. In June of 1978, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a trip to Hawaii.

Mildred was an avid cook and helped her nieces, nephews and great nieces acquire her love of cooking. She was well known for the delicious pies she made for church dinners and for the dozens of different kinds of homemade candies and cookies she made for the Christmas General Store. For many years Mildred and Roy's Christmas yard decorations were a main attraction for Centralia residents as well as many people from surrounding towns.

Mildred took a lot of pride in her home, yard and flowers. She was still mowing her yard on her riding lawn mower the summer of 2003. When asked what she wanted for Christmas the December before, she replied, "an umbrella for my riding lawn mower!" She loved to work cross word puzzles and her tattered dictionary shows many years of hard use.

Mildred was a life long member of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Centralia.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Roy on January 10, 1994, her sister, Gladys Barrett and her brother, Dale Schmidt. She is survived by her nieces; Pat (Dick) Schumacher, Garden Plain, KS, Lynette (Marc) Roth, Englewood, CO, and Judy Marx, California, her nephews; Harold (Mary Jo) Barrett of Charlotte, NC and Tom (Jennifer) Schmidt of Aledo, TX, sister-in-laws; Gene Schmidt, Aurora, CO and Helen Marx, Topeka, KS; eleven great nieces and nephews and eighteen great, great nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 11:00 Am at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Centralia, KS. Burial will be in the Centralia Cemetery. Rev. Deanna Lewis will conduct the services. Julie Gleason will be the organist.

Memorials are being left to the First Congregational United Church of Christ or the Eastridge Care Home both of Centralia, and may be sent in care of the Hayes-Popkess Funeral Home in Centralia.

Online condolences may be left at www.popkessmortuaries.com