Marie E. Vander Wal, age 90, of Brookings, died Thursday, December 25, 2008, at the United Retirement Center in Brookings. Funeral services will be 10:30 A.M. Saturday, January 3, 2009, at the First Reformed Church in Volga, with interment in Trinity Cemetery. Visitations will be from 4-7 P.M. Friday, January 2, at Eidsness Funeral Chapel in Volga.

Marie Elizabeth (Nelson) Vander Wal, was born on September 26, 1918, to John and Anna (Skaar) Nelson at Volga, SD. She received her education in rural Volga and graduated from Volga High School in 1937. Marie married Bert J. Vander Wal on February 23, 1940, in the First Lutheran Church, Volga, SD. They farmed near Volga and Bruce, SD and moved to Estelline, SD in 1972. In 1973, they moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa where they owned and operated a trucking company and resided until 1991. Upon the death of her husband, Marie moved back to South Dakota, where she resided in White and Brookings, SD.

Marie enjoyed raising her children, helping her husband with farm work and milking the cows, cooking, embroidery, sewing, singing, playing the piano, teaching Sunday School, traveling with her husband in the semi-truck and traveling to see her children and grandchildren. She dreamed of being a nurse and fulfilled that dream while working at the Estelline Hospital as a nurse's aid giving loving care to all the patients she took care of. While living in Council Bluffs, Iowa she attended Westwood Community Church in Omaha, Nebraska and enjoyed her work as head housekeeper at Motel 6, Council Bluffs, Iowa. She is described as a hard worker, a lady of strong faith in her Savior and kind words about everyone she met.

Marie is survived by her four children Larry (Janice) Vander Wal of Volga, SD, Gloria (Bob) Zellmer of Sherman, SD, Darwin (Kathy) of Kalamazoo, MI, Joyce (Darryl) Carman of Madison, SD; 15 grandchildren, three step-grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, seven step-great grandchildren; two sisters Olga Pederson and Ruth Hill of Brookings, SD; sisters-in-law, Emma Wagenaar, Aberdeen, SD, Mary Vander Wal, Volga, SD, and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by husband, Bert, her parents, three siblings, Alice Moe, Gerhard Nelson, Joseph Nelson, sister-in-law Dora Nelson, and great-grandson Colin Davis.