Marilyn Claussen

A funeral service for Marilyn Claussen, age 88, of Spirit Lake, will be Tuesday, July 16, 2024 at 10:30 AM at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Spirit Lake. A visitation for Marilyn will begin one hour prior to the service at the church. Burial will be at Rippey Cemetery in Rippey, Iowa on Tuesday, July 16th at 3:30 PM. Memorials in honor of Marilyn can be made to the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Spirit Lake or to the family.

Marilyn passed away on July 11, 2024 at Lakes Regional Healthcare in Spirit Lake, Iowa. She was born on August 17, 1935, at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Carroll, Iowa. She was the oldest of two children born to Grover and Dorothy Swanson Weaver. She was baptized May 5, 1937 at the United Brethren Church at Carrollton. As a child she attended country school at Carrollton country school in Carrollton, Iowa with one year at Glidden Consolidated.

At the age of 13 the family moved to Rippey, Iowa where she lived for five years. After graduating from High School she worked in Des Moines, Iowa for Northwestern Bell Telephone for two years and Standard Oil of Indiana for five years. She became a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Des Moines in December, 1960. Marilyn and Ronald Claussen were united in marriage on July 22, 1961 at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Perry, Iowa. They made their home in Spirit Lake, Iowa for 63 years. Her husband, Ronald, passed away in 2018 and she moved to Wel-Life Assisted Living and then to Accura Nursing Home. 

In 1961 she began working for Berkley and Company and retired after 32 years. She spent her retirement years crocheting, piecing quilts for family and friends, and The Quilts of Valor Foundation. She used her sewing skills to make doll clothes for her great nieces and bags for Doctors Without Borders. She also did genealogy for both her family and her husband’s. Marilyn’s lineage goes back to Sarah Wilcoxsen, sister to Daniel Boone.

She was a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church, Milford American Legion Auxiliary, Spirit Lake VFW Auxiliary, Daughters of the American Revolution and Quilting Club of Spirit Lake. 

She is preceded in death by her husband Ronald, brother Russell, parents, and grandparents. She is survived by her sister-in-law Jean Weaver, niece Linda Weaver Goodrich (William), and great-nieces Alicia Goodrich Millon (Caleb), Sarah Goodrich, Anna Goodrich and great-nephew Liam Goodrich, all of Omaha, Nebraska and several cousins.