Marie Agnes Shalla

Marie A. Shalla, 94, of Lone Tree, formerly of Richmond, passed away on Saturday, October 28, 2023. Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 4, 2023, at 3:00 PM at Trinity United Methodist Church in Riverside. Burial will follow at the Riverside Public Cemetery. The family will greet friends from 1 – 2:30 PM at the church on Saturday. A memorial fund has been established for Trinity United Methodist Church in Riverside or Lone Tree Pioneer Park Memory Care. Sympathy notes and shared memories may be left of the family at peterseimfuneralhome.com.

Marie A. Shalla, daughter of James and Helen (Dvorak) Swailes, was born on August 4, 1929, at their home located between Ainsworth and Riverside. Marie attended country schools and went to Lone Tree Community School her freshman year of high school. The rest of her high school years were spent at Washington High School. Her dad felt it so important she did not miss school that he arranged for her to stay in a rented room in Washington. She graduated from Washington High School in 1948. Growing up, Marie spent many hours at the family’s dance hall, the popular Highland Palace. Days before each dance, she helped prepare food to sell during the dances. The top selling item on the menu was pressed chicken sandwiches. Not only was it hard work getting ready for the dances, the family would work until dawn cleaning up the hall and grounds afterwards. When Marie was 14 years old, her parents put her in charge of the cloakroom. Working in the cloakroom gave her a chance to see and talk to the many people that came to the dances. She especially liked to flirt with a certain guy that stopped by to say “hi”. That certain guy by the name of Norm became the love of her life. Marie was united in marriage to Norman D. Shalla at the Riverside Trinity United Methodist Church on June 5, 1948. They farmed a farm south of Riverside before moving to a farm outside of Iowa City in 1958. In 1970, they moved back to a farm in the Riverside area. Their final move was to the farm near Richmond where Norm was born and raised.  Marie did sewing/alterations, laundry and sold eggs from their home, before going to work at Montgomery Wards as the alterations lady. She worked her way up to department manager of four departments. She was a Sunday school teacher at the First Christian Church, 4-H leader of the South Scott Lassies, and participated in the neighborhood Euchre Card Club on Saturday nights. Marie enjoyed bowling in the ladies and mixed leagues and dancing in her younger years. And of course, always looked forward to spending time with her husband, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Most of all she enjoyed making noodles, angel food cakes, kolaches, and tea rings, and spending time in her sewing room making quilts, jean jackets, Amish dolls, and place mats. Marie was a member of the Riverside Trinity United Methodist Church.

She will be deeply missed by her children, Jan (Kenny) Riggan of Riverside, Darlene (Bill) Neal of Iowa City, Helen (Lowell) Baker of Lone Tree, Don (Linda) Shalla of Riverside, 11 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

Preceding Marie in death were her husband Norman in 2018, her parents, three brothers and their wives: Ernest (Norma) Swailes, Donald (Margaret) Swailes, and Richard (Mary Ann) Swailes and a great-granddaughter Kiefer Grout.