Margaret Schmitz

Margaret M. Schmitz, 83, of Willmar, formerly of Sauk Centre, died Thursday, January 20, at Bethesda Heritage Center Nursing Home in Willmar.
Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 A.M., Monday, January 24, at the Church of St. Patrick in Kandiyohi. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery in Sauk Centre. Visitation will be from 2 to 4 PM Sunday with a Parish Prayer Service at 1:30 P.M. and a Rosary Service at 4 PM. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service at the church. Arrangements are with the Peterson Brothers Atwater Funeral Home in Atwater.

Margaret Mary Schmitz was born June 5, 1927, to August and Loretta (Laubach) Koll in Spring Hill, Minnesota. At the age of three, she moved with her family to Melrose, Minnesota, where she attended St. Boniface Catholic School and graduated from Melrose High School. Margaret attended St. Cloud Beauty College and worked as a beautician at Margaret Lumphrey Beauty Shop in Browns Valley and Clara Myrman Beauty Shop in Little Falls. On April 23, 1955, she married Bernard Schmitz at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Melrose. In 1963, they moved to Sauk Centre, where Margaret worked at Fingerhut and the Sauk Centre Nursing Home. In 1989, she moved to Atwater and later to Willmar.

Margaret belonged to the Catholic Aid Association and the American Legion Auxiliary and was also a member of the Nutrition Center in Atwater.

She is survived by a son: Charles (and Linda) Schmitz of Sauk Rapids and granddaughters: Charlyn Schmitz, April (and Matt) Mullenix, Tiffany (and Thomas) Stein, and great-grandsons: Austin and Andrew Stein-Schmitz; a daughter: Brenda (and Ben) Thiewes of Atwater, and grandson: Zachariah Thiewes; a daughter: Patricia "Pat" (and Dave) Shaffer of Atwater and granddaughter: Tammy (and Phillip "Homer") Fleming; a daughter: Sharon (and Virgil) Dierkhising of Hugo, and granddaughter: Stacy (and Travis) Miles, great-granddaughters: Temperance and Felicity Miles, granddaughter: Terri (and Andrew) Saffert, and grandson: Adam (and Amy) Dierkhising and great-grandson: Alex Dierkhising. Also surviving are two brothers: Anthony "Tony" (and Marie) Koll of Chaska and Richard "Dick" Koll (and Mary Isaacs) of Sauk Rapids, along with numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband: Bernard; a grandson: Shane Shaffer; three brothers: Ronald (and Rita) Koll of Little Falls, Gerald (and Eunice) Koll of Redwood Falls and Ambrose "Ambie" (and Lois) Koll of Sebeka; and a sister : Valeria "Larry " (and Robert "Bob") Wagner of Austin, Minnesota.