Marlene Vandenburg, of Niles
May 7, 1937 — March 17, 2020
Niles Daily Star, Published 8:52 am Friday, March 20, 2020
Marlene Lorraine Vandenburg, 82, of Niles, wife, mother, grandmother, creative crafter, seasonal celebrator, photographer and cat lady, died peacefully at 3:23 p.m. on Saint Patrick’s Day Tuesday, March 17, 2020, with family at her side in the Emergency Department of Spectrum Health Lakeland Hospital, in Niles, following a brief illness.
She was born on May 7, 1937, in Niles, to Irving S. and Gladys M. (Williams) [lines missing in original] 18 years administering employee benefits in the former Buchanan and South Bend offices of Clark Equipment Company.
Marlene was a lifelong member of the First Baptist Church of Niles, and was elected to the City of Niles Board of Review where she served for 19 years. She was very creative and had a great sense of humor. She best used these talents to display seasonal decorations on lamp post outside the family home at Ninth and Hickory Streets. Photographs of the display were often published in the Niles Daily Star and one winter scene was selected by the Associated Press for national publication.
She was also a talented amateur photographer, focusing mostly on her family, which left her out of most of the family’s photos. Shortly after moving into the house on Hickory Street, a cat wandered in, beginning a legacy of household cats, continuing in the new house in Ballard Hills, with the ultimate successor cat still in residence there.
On Saint Patrick’s Day of 1957, fellow 1955 classmate Donald K. Vandenburg proposed marriage to Marlene. She agreed and they were wed on Aug. 17, 1957, in the First Baptist Church when it was a white frame building at Fourth and Broadway (now Harding’s parking lot). They celebrated last year the remarkable 62nd anniversary of their wedding.
She was preceded in death by her parents and by a granddaughter, Alexandra Marie Vandenburg who died on Dec. 4, 1996.
Surviving family includes her husband, Don Vandenburg; and their children, Steven Vandenburg, of Niles, Michael (Christine) Vandenburg, of Union, Kentucky and Lisa (Norman) Sowards, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; grandchildren, Elaine (Michael) Rowland, Paul (Raquel) Vandenburg, Thomas Vandenburg, Sarah Vandenburg, Morgan Sowards and Grant Sowards; great-grandchildren, Ruby Rowland, Jack Rowland, Parker Earl and Braxton Vandenburg; and Marlene’s brother, Norman (Fay) Boulton, of Phoenix, Arizona; and their children.
The funeral service for Marlene Vandenburg will be attended by only her immediate family at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 21, 2020, at the Halbritter-Wickens Funeral Home, in Niles, with the Rev. John Schindler officiating.
Interment will follow at the Silverbrook Cemetery in Niles.
Relatives and friends are invited to witness the ceremony via the livestreamed broadcast available on the Halbritter-Wickens Facebook page: facebook.com/halbritterwickensfuneralservices/contributions in memory of Marlene may be made to Fernwood Botanic Garden and Nature Preserve, 13988 Rangeline Road, Niles, MI, 49120; fernwoodbotanical.org. During this time of limited social contact, please continue in personal contact using greeting cards and the postal service or with online condolences which may be left at: halbritterwickens.com.