Margaret Ruth Imre

Mrs. Margaret Ruth Imre (nee Sterzinger) (96), born April 24, 1925, passed away peacefully on June 25, 2021, surrounded by family, in Collierville, Tennessee.

Marge is together again with her husband, William Frank “Bill” Imre, and is survived by their children William Fred (Laura), Thomas Michael (Susan), Ronald Leo (Lisa), and Nancy Margaret, and their beloved grandchildren Stephanie Helene (Aaron & their daughter Poesy) Fallon, John Christopher (Amy) Lohmann, and Alexandra Elise Imre.

Marge and Bill were first-generation Americans born and raised on the south side of Chicago, their parents from Burgenland in Austria. Marge graduated in January 1944 from Englewood High School. Her strong faith and caring nature were evident at an early age, when she developed a love of family that was unbending and ultimately extended to everyone she met. Marge, or Gretel to her father, was the youngest of five children, and quietly made her presence known. The many boxes of chocolate chip cookies she baked as a teen, individually wrapped in foil and sent to her brother Fred and his US Third Army buddies in Iceland, England and France during WWII, are a small example of her tremendous love for family.

Married in 1954, Marge and Bill shared a 64-year journey together that took them in 1962 from Chicago to Milan, Tennessee and thus began many new adventures from Little League and Scouting to the creation of a Pizza Parlor they operated for 26 years. Marge never stepped away from challenges, but handled them with grace and dignity, including surviving life-threatening illnesses at the ages of 20 and 54, and raising four seriously analytical kids (two space shuttle engineers and two CPAs, who interestingly all played trombone and were first-generation college graduates of Ole Miss). Her love and enthusiastic support for them was never-ending.

Storytelling, gentle humor, and quick wit were the fabric of Marge’s soul, and her memory skills were unmatched, from her ability to recite states and their capitols in alpha order, to her perfect recollection of each important date in the lives of every friend and extended family member! Growing up several blocks from old Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago White Sox, Marge developed a love of baseball and later many other sports. After her move to Tennessee, she became an avid Cubs fan and, with Bill, celebrated with much joy their 2016 World Series championship! Of course, as many knew, her love of all things Elvis was also unparalleled!

Always positive, mostly smiling, and rarely complaining, Marge was the young-at-heart “rock” of the family and will be dearly missed, as the many lives she touched and fond memories she left behind attest. When an acquaintance once complained about his children’s advancing ages and where that put him, she smiled broadly and replied “Hey, they’re just catching up to us!” Vintage Marge!

Private services will be held at the St. Ann Catholic Church in Bartlett, Tennessee on July 3, with burial on July 7 at the West Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in Memphis. In lieu of flowers, donations in Marge’s memory and for her love of cats may be made to The House of Mews in Memphis.