Marjorie Anna Brehm Lamb

MIDDLETON - Marjorie Anna Brehm Lamb was born in her familys farmhouse outside of Rickardsville, Iowa, on Feb. 16, 1932, and died at HospiceCare in Madison, on Friday, March 7, 2008. She was 76 years old. In 1946, Marjorie was the first student from St. Josephs Catholic School in Rickardsville to go on to high school. She attended Dubuques Immaculate Conception Academy as a boarder, graduating with honors in 1949, and did equally well at Briar Cliff College in Sioux City, Iowa, graduating from that school in 1953. Both institutions were run by well-educated, kind and encouraging Franciscan nuns, to whom Marjorie always said she owed so much. After a couple of semesters of journalism graduate school at the University of Iowa, Marjorie bravely stepped onto a train bound for Pocatello, Idaho - her first trip outside the Midwest - where she had been hired as society page editor of the Idaho State Journal. Soon after arriving in Pocatello in the summer of 1953, she began attending meetings at the Idaho State University Newman Center, and it was there that she met her future husband, Luke "Fritz" Lamb, who was then a senior at ISU. Marjorie and Luke were married on Dec. 28, 1954, at St. Josephs Church in Rickardsville, and spent their abbreviated honeymoon driving to Lieutenant Lambs first assignment at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. In May 1956, six months pregnant with her first child, Marjorie accompanied Luke to his next army assignment in Darmstadt, Germany, where their daughter, Cynthia was both in Sept. and their daughter, Lynette was born the next year. This home was followed by subsequent ones i n Missouri, where daughter, Mary Beth was born in 1961, Oregon, and finally Wisconsin, where Marjorie and Luke have made their home for the past 40 years. Marjorie held only one paid job after marriage, she worked for 15 years for the Industrial Relations Research Association on the UW campus, but was also a dedicated volunteer for many organizations, including St. Pauls Catholic Center, the Dane County Food Pantry, and the St. Pauls Catholic Center meal program. An inveterate reader, she belonged to two book clubs, including one in Middleton Hills, where she and Luke moved in 1997. Marjorie is survived by her husband of 53 years, Luke; her daughters, Cynthia (Gary Umhoefer) of Green Bay, Lynette (Robert Gerloff) of Minneapolis, and Mary Beth (Richard Kempf) of St. Louis Park, Minn.; and eight grandchildren; as well as a sister, Lois Goluch (Dick) of Waukesha; and a brother, Donald Brehm (Mary Ellen) of Rickardsville, Iowa. Funeral services will be held at ST. BERNARDS CATHOLIC CHURCH, 7450 University Ave., Middleton, at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 11, 2008, with Monsignor Douglas Dushack presiding. Family and friends may call from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. on Monday, March 10, 2008, at the GUNDERSON WEST FUNERAL HOME, 7435 University Ave., Middleton. Friends may also call on Tuesday from 10 a.m. until the time of the service at the church. In lieu of flowers, please send memorial gifts to the Dane County Food Pantry Network, c/o Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin, Inc. 1717 N. Stoughton Road, Madison, WI 53704, or the Shalom Retreat Center 100 Davis Ave., Dubuque, IA 52001.