Marlene Ferguson

Ferguson, Marlene G. OREGON - Marlene G. Ferguson, age 84, died on Thursday, May 31, 2007. She was born in Oregon on Aug. 29, 1922, to William and Edna (Olsen) Champion and was a lifelong Oregon area resident. Marlene graduated from Oregon High School in 1940 and was married to Orrill F. Ferguson on April 12, 1941. Mrs. Fergusons devotion was to her family, faith, friends and music. She was a lifelong member of St. Johns Lutheran Church, Oregon and played the organ there for 57 years, beginning at age 13. She also served as Sunday School Superintendent for many years and was active with the Women of St. Johns, the Esther Circle, Care Callers and along with her husband, took an active part in the annual St. Johns Smorgasbord since it began in 1956. Marlene taught music in rural one-room schools in Green and Rock counties in the late 1940s and was later employed as bookkeeper at Oregon Heating and Air Conditioning, her late brothers business in Oregon. She was a member of Oregon Town and Country Womens Club and Oregon High School Band Boosters, but most important, enjoyed the company of friends in several card clubs. Marlene will always be remembered for never forgetting to send a birthday card to family and friends and her bottomless cookie jar. Mrs. Ferguson is survived by two daughters in Oregon, Carolyn and husband, Robert Weede and Kay Bliefernicht and fiance, Cory Saniter; granddaughter, Dr. Nancy Weede Rhodes and husband, Dr. Justin Rhodes of Champaign, Ill.; grandsons, Adam and Andrew Bliefernicht of Oregon; great-grandsons, Oliver and Avi Rhodes; and sisters-in-law, Irene Larsen and Pauline Champion, both of Oregon; several nieces and nephews; and countless friends in the Oregon community. She was preceded in death by her husband, Orrill; brother, Norman E. Champion, on May 25, 2007; and infant granddaughter, Laura Kay Bliefernicht. Funeral services will be held at ST. JOHNS LUTHERAN CHURCH, 625 E. Netherwood Road, Oregon, at 11 a.m., on Monday, June 4, 2007, with Pastor Paul Markquart officiating. Burial will be at Prairie Mounds Cemetery. Visitation will be held at GUNDERSON OREGON FUNERAL HOME, 431 Soden Drive, Oregon, from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m., on Sunday, June 3, 2007, and at the church 10 a.m. until the time of the service on Monday. The family suggests memorials to the family for a memorial fund to be established for Marlene. Mrs. Fergusons family wishes to thank the staffs of Main Street Quarters in Oregon, Willow Pointe and Stoughton Hospital, for the loving and compassionate care they gave to their mother.