Marlys O. Brown, 88, of Sun City West, Arizona and formerly of Ventu-ra, California and Oelwein, Iowa died Tuesday, Febru-ary 23, 2021 at her home. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, March 6, 2021, at Zion Lutheran Church in Oelwein with Rev. Josh Schunk offici-ating, and Assisting Min-ister, Nichole D’Onofrio. The service will be live streamed on the church Facebook page at Zion Lu-theran Oelwein. Visitation will be from 10-11 a.m., Saturday at the church. Interment will be at Woodlawn Cemetery, Oelwein. All memorial gifts will be gifted to Holy Cross Angli-can School in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize Central America. Marlys loved her island home and would be delighted to sup-port the island children. The Jamison-Schmitz Fu-neral Home in Oelwein is assisting the family. Online obituary at www.jamison-schmitzfuneralhome.com Due to recommenda-tions from state and fed-eral health officials during the COVID-19 pandemic, guests are required to wear a mask and social distance. We encourage relatives and friends not able to attend the service to reach out to the family by leaving a message on the funeral home web site, by mail, text or phone. Marlys Ona Randa was born on June 7, 1932 at Cylinder, Iowa, the daugh-ter of Kalmer Henry and Louise Theresa (Oleson) Randa. She graduated from Gruver High School at Gruver, Iowa in 1950. Marlys attended Augusta-na College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa, where she earned her elementary teaching certificate. She taught first grade at West Bend, Iowa for one year. Marlys was united in marriage to Bob-by Lee Brown on Dec.14, 1952, at Immanuel Luther-an Church, rural Esther-ville, Iowa. Marlys moved to San Diego, California for one year while Bob served in the U.S. Navy in Korea. When Bob returned from the Navy, they farmed at rural Estherville for five years. Bob and Marlys then moved to Davenport, Iowa where Bob attended Palmer Chiropractic College. Upon Bob’s graduation, Bob and Marlys moved to Oelwein in January of 1963. Marlys taught first grade at Harlan School for two years. She founded and oper-ated the Hallmark House of Cards in Oelwein and Man-chester. She later owned and operat-ed six Diet Centers in Oelwein, New Hampton, Osage, Decorah, Independence and West Union. Upon retirement in 1997, Bob and Marlys spent their summers camping in their motor home and most years went to Canada and Alaska. Their winters were spent in Belize, Cen-tral America and Sun City West, Arizona. Bob and Marlys enjoyed traveling to many other parts of the world. They moved to Ven-tura, California in August 2008 and Marlys moved to Sun City West, Arizona in 2019. Marlys was a member of Zion Lutheran Church where she had previously served as a Sunday School Teacher, Bible Study Lead-er and as WELCA Presi-dent three times. She had formerly been a Brownie Leader, member of Mc-Dowell Club and was the first woman board member for the Oelwein Chamber of Commerce. Her hobbies included fishing, garden-ing, and painting. Marlys is survived by her four children: Dr. Brad-ley (Theresa) Brown of Oelwein, Iowa; Becky (Stan) Robson of Sun City West, Arizona; Dr. Brian (Lori) Brown of Grinnell, Iowa; and Beth Brown of Sun City West, Arizo-na; seven grandchildren: Heather Brown, Jackson (Abigail) Brown and Al-yson (Alan) High, Nich-ole (Chris) D’Onofrio and Malyssa (Tim) Torres and Tyler Brown and Megan (Steve) Schofield; nine great grandchildren: Otis, Malachi, and Theodore Brown, Heath and Kaylee D’Onofrio, Ezekiel and Titus Torres and Olivia and Elin Schofield; broth-er: LuVerne (Joan) Randa of Hemet, California; two sisters: Karel (Bud) Buice of Swannanoa, North Car-olina and Kathi (Garry) Brown of Nuevo, Califor-nia; in- laws: Al Brown, Keith (Janet) Brown and Bonnie Brown; and several nieces and nephews. She is proceeded in death by her husband: Bob; great grandson: Otto Brown; her parents; sister: Ardyth Cherry; sisters- in- law: Mary Brown and Marlene Brown; and brothers- in- law: Ray Cherry and Duane Brown.
