The memorial service for Margaret E. Wendel Matusich will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Bonnerup Funeral Service Chapel, Albert Lea. The Rev. Jay Dahlvang will officiate. Friends may visit with family one hour before service at the chapel. Interment will be in Oak Hill Memorial Park, San Jose, Calif.
Margaret died on Monday, Oct. 20, 2008, at Thorne Crest Retirement Community, Albert Lea. She was 96 years old.
Margaret was born in Milwaukee, Wis., on Dec. 11, 1911, the daughter of Emil F. and Bertha (Kalweit) Hobus. She graduated from the Girl’s Trade and Technical School in Milwaukee. She had been a member of Salem Lutheran Church, Albert Lea and the Crystal Cathedral in California. Margaret was married to Raymond Wendel in 1929 and to this marriage had a son, James. She was a bookkeeper at Sears in Albert Lea, Worked at Wilson & Co., was craft director at Sunnyview Manor in California. Margaret was never out of a job from youth through out her adult life, always advancing in the positions she held ending as an Assistant Credit Manager for Sears Store in Albert Lea. She and her husband started the Grapevine Twist Square Dancing Club in the 1950s. Margaret took courses in art to enhance her native talents. She sold many oil paintings in seascapes and landscapes. Her husband Ray died March 29, 1970, after 41 years of marriage. Margaret continued to work as secretary for Dr. Frank Garcia, Chiropractic. Margaret’s skill at crafts and as a known oil painting artist gave her many opportunities to serve others. In 1975 she married John Matusich in California. He died March 12, 2000.
Margaret is survived by her son: James (Carol) Wendel of Albert Lea; grandchildren: Connie (Lee) Luebke of Corcoran, Bradley (Susan) Wendel of Eagan, Nancy (James ) Torke of Milwaukee, Wis.; great grandchildren: Eric, David and Thomas Wendel, Justin and Kristin Luebke, Anthony Torke, Kelsey Garity.
Margaret was preceded in death by her parents, husbands, Ray and John; sisters: Myrtle Giessel, Alice St. Julian, Lydia Stein, Gertrude Hobus and Janice at birth.
The family would like to thank Thorne Crest Retirement Community and Crossroad Community Hospice for their loving care of Margaret while she was there.