Marian Helen Thompson

Marian Helen Thompson (Hodson), age 94, of St. Paul, Minnesota passed away peacefully in her sleep at 4:45 pm on Monday, July 10, 2023 in hospice care at the Marian Center of St. Paul on 200 Earl Street, St. Paul, Minnesota 55106. Marian was born in Forest City, Iowa and was a longtime resident of southeastern Minnesota – Ostrander (1937 - 1947), Rochester (1947 - 1953), rural Grand Meadow (1953 - 1958), Racine (1958 – 1975), and Spring Valley, (1975 – 2010).

Marian is preceded in death by her husband Donald Harold Thompson, her parents Esther Helen (Hanna) Hodson and Nile N Hodson [Spring Valley, Minnesota], her brothers and sisters: Maxine Emma (Hodson) Schwaubauer and husband Gerald Schwabauer [Englewood, Colorado]; Doris Elaine (Hodson) Butts and husband James Butts [Tampa, Florida]; Kenneth Earl Hodson and wife Carol (Launt) Hodson [Ostrander, Minnesota]; her youngest brother Philip Allen Hodson [Spring Valley, Minnesota]; and one nephew, Carl Butts [Tampa, Florida].

Marian is survived by her three children: Jean Elaine Thompson [St. Paul, Minnesota]; Carol Ann Thompson [Harlem, New York]; Wayne Harold Thompson (wife Brenda Farrell) [Houston, Texas] - three grandchildren Hanna Ping Thompson, [Maryland], Mariana Mei Thompson, [Atlanta, Georgia], and Matthew Gui Thompson [St. Paul, Minnesota] - and nineteen nieces and nephews.

The visitation and service for Marian will be held at Wulff Funeral Home at 1485 White Bear Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota 55106 on Thursday, July 20, 2023. Visitation will begin at 11:00 AM and her Service will be in the chapel at 12:00 PM. Burial will be held at 1:30 PM in the Fort Snelling National Cemetery, 7601 34th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55450. A reception will be held following her burial at Obb's Sports Bar & Grill (one of Marian’s favorite restaurants in St. Paul) from 2:15 PM to 4:00 PM, 1347 Burns Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota 55106.

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In lieu of flowers - contributions may be made at:

Racine United Methodist Church

401 East Main Street

P.O. Box 127

Racine, Minnesota 55967

https://umcracinemn.org/

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Living Memories of Marian

Marian was born at 3:15 pm on February 17, 1929 in the hospital in Forest City, Iowa, daughter of Esther (Hanna) Hodson and Nile N Hodson.

In 1937, her parents along with four siblings moved from Forest City, Iowa to Ostrander, Minnesota: Maxine Emma Hodson (Schwabauer), born in Clear Lake, Iowa [03/14/1921 – 03/21/2019]; Doris Elaine Hodson (Butts) [01/12/1931 – 01/16/2001]; Kenneth Earl Hodson [07/10/1933 – 09/07/2020]; and her youngest brother Philip Allen Hodson (03/16/1937 – 01/17/1991), also born in Forest City, Iowa.

Their new home was located on the east side of Filmore County Road 1, one and a half miles south of town center, nestled adjacent to a wooded area of an 80-acre farmstead. Nile farmed the land – a corn, buckwheat, soybean, oats crop rotation, plus a hay meadow and grazing pasture, two wooded glades, and livestock, including hogs and chickens.

Marian’s father inherited the very strict family rule that when a child reaches the age of eighteen, they are to become independent, find a career and move out of the family home. So, in 1947 at the age of eighteen, after having completed primary, secondary and high school in Ostrander, Marian accepted a position as secretary with Boy Scouts of America in Rochester.

She shared many happy memories of living on the south side of the Rochester with her Aunt Em (Emma Leora (Hanna) Zimmerman) [10/15/1909 – 01/05/2008], Uncle Orville Zimmerman [08/28/1913 – 06/02/2010] and their son Larry Zimmerman. While living in Rochester, Marian dated Donald Harold Thompson and on February 07, 1953 when she was 23 years old, they married. She then left her job in the city and returned to life on the farm – to join Don and his brother Leslie Russel Thompson [07/24/1920 – 04/14/2012] and Lucille Ann (Midby) Thompson [05/28/1928 – 08/20/2008] at East and West Cranewood farms located about five miles east of Grand Meadow. She helped grow their farm into a 3000-acre mixed livestock/row crop operation – which at the time was among the largest farms of this type in the mid-west.

At the same time, she bore and began to raise her three children: Jean Elaine Thompson [1953] who became a planner with Minnesota Department of Human Services, presently living in St. Paul; Carol Ann Thompson [1954] who became an art historian and museum curator, presently living in Harlem, NYC; and Wayne Harold Thompson [1955] who became a cropping systems agronomist and soil ecologist, an academic educator and scientist, now retired and living with his wife Brenda Farrell in the Museum District of Houston, Texas.

In the spring of 1958, the family moved to Racine, Minnesota where Marian worked as book keeper for their newly acquired farm implement dealership and repair shop, Racine Implement Company. They traded their farming operation for this business, a huge change which brought many unanticipated challenges, excitement, satisfaction and reward. She was very active in the community, playing a key role in garnering federal funds for the installation of a community water and sewer system for the town of Racine, population 64 at the time.

In 1968, they purchased the vacant Racine Elementary School building and Kenny, Marian’s brother who was a highly skilled architect, carpenter, cabinet-maker and mason, redesigned and converted the building into a modern four-plex apartment building. After the renovations were complete, her family moved into the larger of the two second-floor apartments. This is where Marian raised three teenagers.

In 1975, they purchased a house in Spring Valley - selected by Marian - where they lived very comfortably for nearly 30 years. Once again, Marian was very happily indulged with one of her favorite hobbies – renovating the house, modernizing the solidly built 1932 white stucco home and further renovating, restoring and decorating every room. In 2010, after retirement they moved to St. Paul Mounds Park area to live near her oldest daughter Jean and Jean’s three cherished children – Hanna, Mariana and Matthew. On Friday of the same week that Don, her husband of 65 years passed, Marian moved into an independent living apartment at Marian Center of St. Paul, just down the road from their last home.

One of Marian’s pleasures was cooking and baking – for large groups of people, groups of people that she would bring together – to celebrate whatever might come to mind. Marian became renowned for her Christmas parties, inviting ladies from throughout the region, making a display of her colorful Christmas cookies of all shapes, designs and flavors. For years, she would prepare a potluck meal and stow it in her picnic basket for the annual family reunions.

The Hanna-Hodson family reunions were held in northeastern Iowa near her birth home hosted by her aunts, cousins, and hosted by her mother on the old family farm south of Ostrander – and more recently, she hosted family reunions at her home in Spring Valley. Her relatives from near and far would come together as family. After moving to St. Paul, she organized family reunions to bring together the Thompson, Hodson and Hanna families. These events were always a joy – something very special – and always timed to ensure that her son who lived 1200 miles away in Houston, Texas could be with family, timed to coincide with his annual work-related trek back to the Midwest.

In the early 1970s, her husband Don and her brother-in-law Les decided that “It’s time to teach the boys how to farm”. So, they purchased two quarter-sections of farmland south of Grand Meadow where they did just that – “taught the boys how to farm”. During those work-filled weeks and months, Marian prepared noon meals for her nephews and son – always a generous spread of her specialty mixtures of meat starch and butter topped with one of her favorite deserts and quenched with lemonade. Around noon each day, the boys watched for a signal that lunch was soon to arrive – a cloud of billowing gravel road dust following Marian’s Buick. With each sighting, the boys would stop their work and navigate whatever piece of equipment they were operating over to the field entrance where they would find their food laid out as a display of culinary delight on the tailgate of a pickup.

Marian was undaunted by driving – she was an excellent driver. With unswerving confidence, she could negotiate the heavy chaotic freeway traffic in the twin cities – and with patience and calm while cruising over open highways, always just above the posted speed limit - and with solid control when navigating her favorite shortcuts across the winding gravel roads that thread the hills and valleys of southeastern Minnesota – always on the ready for a quick stop to collect wildflowers, bittersweet and pussy willows.

Each summer, Marian with her husband Don, drove their family to explore national parks and historical sites. And, rather than buying their own lake cabin in northern Minnesota, she preferred the anticipation of seeking out a new and different lakeside retreat, something different for each summer vacation. In preparation for each trip, she would pour through brochures, pamphlets and tour guides to find the perfect route and most ideal place to rest – always something refreshing, beautiful, comfortable and calm.

One of her daily challenges, what she referred to as a need to keep her brain alert and active, was to complete the daily crossword puzzles in the Rochester Post Bulletin and the St. Paul Pioneer Press Sunday newspaper. But another focus that seemed to take precedence over all others was her love of sewing. With her critically keen eye for detail, she grew to become a highly skilled seamstress – making skirts, blouses and dresses for herself and her two daughters, Jean and Carol, and shirts and suits for her son – but the Nehru collar suit put her off sewing for her son – “Way too complicated”, she complained – except for one last very comfortable long-sleeve dark blue corduroy shirt, perfectly tailored. Carol often wore Marian’s custom-tailored creations at events and museum openings in New York City, creations emulating those of leading designers.

Marian was also a talented pianist and organist. She learned to play the piano on an upright in her childhood home on the farm south of Ostrander. After settling into her job in Rochester, she borrowed money from her father to purchase a 37-inch Gulbransen spinet piano – which now rests in the foyer of her son’s and daughter-in-law’s home in Houston, Texas. She was very good at sight reading sheet music and improvising – a convenient talent when leading a choir during practice sessions, or a congregation in song when she played piano or filled as organist at the United Methodist Church in Racine. There was always a room in her home reserved for music. She continued to play the piano into her 90s at the assisted living center. This was warmly received as she, like other residents lived away from her family through most of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the last years of her life, she did her part to ease the terrible loneliness of the time by entertaining her new friends and fellow residents with her music.

Marian’s Ancestry

(adapted from familysearch.com data and memory documents therein)

Maternal Ancestry. Marian’s maternal ancestry search, for lack of documentation, ended with Marian’s great-grandmother Johanna Braune, who was born in 1838 in Prussia, a state of the German Empire, now part of modern Germany. Johanna married August Wetterling in 1868, and together they migrated to Illinois in about 1870 and later moved to Iowa. They had two girls and two boys. One of the two girls was Mary Caroline Wetterling, Marian’s maternal grandmother, who was born on 28 Jun 1873 in Floyd County, Iowa. Mary Wetterling married William Henry Hanna on 02 May 1892. They had nine children, one of whom was Marian’s mother, Esther Helen Hanna. Mary died on 21 Jan 1954 in Rochester, Minnesota and is buried adjacent to her husband William in Thompson Township, Winnebago County, Iowa. Marian’s mother was born on 18 May 1897 in Garner Township, Hancock County, Iowa. She married Nile N Hodson on 31 Dec 1919. Esther and Nile had seven children (including Marian), two of whom were stillborn (1923 and 1924 in Albert Lea, Minnesota). Esther Died on 1 Oct 1991 in Spring Valley, Fillmore County, and is buried in the Spring Valley Cemetery beside Nile, her husband of 55.8 years and her youngest son, Phillip.

Hanna Ancestry. The Hanna ancestry search ended with John Hanna who was born in Scotland before 1863. John married Esse Campbell, also born in Scotland before 1863. No birth or death records were located, to date. Their son, William Henry Hanna (4 Apr 1863 – 19 Feb 1928) was born in County Cavin, Ireland. So, John and Esse were married in either Scotland or Ireland. William Henry Hanna, Marian’s maternal grandfather, migrated to Iowa in 1881 and married Mary Caroline Wetterling on 02 May 1892 in Marion, Linn County, Iowa. William Henry Hanna died in Claremont, Dodge County, Minnesota and was buried in Thompson, Iowa.

Hodson Ancestry. The search for Marian’s Hodson ancestry revealed that Robert Hodgson, an English Quaker, Marian’s great grandfather (six times removed), according to memory documents (published/legal documents), was born in England between 1675 and 1685 (date estimate). He served in the English military and was stationed in Ireland - where he and his family lived for approximately nine years. Documentation also shows that George (Hodson) Hodgson (6 Jan 1701 – Aug 1774), one of Robert’s three sons, was born in South Yorkshire, England. In 1710 the family boarded a ship in Ireland destined for Philadelphia. Tragically during the voyage, George’s parents and two brothers died due to illness and were buried at sea, leaving George as sole survivor, a nine-year-old orphan.

George first settled near Philadelphia where he married Mary Thatcher (about 1730), was bequeathed a section of land (640 acres) in North Carolina, British Colonial America - and thus became a wealthy landowner. His son, John Hodgson, Sr. (04 Aug 1731 – 08 Nov 1804) motived to remove his family from the influences of the slave trade, moved his family – including his son John Hodgson, Jr. (28 Jun 1759 – 20 Feb 1823) – to Clinton County, Ohio.

Allen (Hodgson) Hodson (30 Dec 1809 – 1862), son of John Hodgson Jr, who was born in Clinton County, Ohio, has birth records showing that with his birth came a change in the family name from Hodgson to Hodson. Allen’s son, George Washington Hodson (23 Aug 1838 – 7 Aug 1907), also born in Clinton County Ohio, married Anna Maria Armstrong (28 Nov 1841 – 23 Dec 1908) on 1 Jan 1861. He later moved with his family to Union Township in Dallas County Iowa, 30 miles west of Des Moines.

Marian’s grandfather, Frank Carey Hodson (2 Jun 1873 – 21 Oct 1925) married Emma Louise Feitz (30 Jan 1875 – 25 Dec 1901) on 23 Nov 1895 in Madison County, Iowa. They had four children, Ivan Dale Hodson, Nile N Hodson (Marian’s father), Mildred Blanch Hodson (Sterrenberg), and Emmett Lester Hodson. Emma died shortly after giving birth to Emmett. After Emma’s death in 1901, Frank was remarried to Ora M. Whitlow (Jan 1876 – 23 Jan 1930 [aged 53–54]) on 9 Oct 1907 in Ralls, Missouri. Ora was born in Tamaroa Township, Perry County, Illinois, and moved to Penn Township, Madison, Iowa before 1910. Frank and Ora had one daughter, Carey Arnola Hodson (Grodahl), in 1908 while residing in Madison County. During or before 1920, the family finally moved to Forest City, Newton Township, Winnebago County, Iowa where upon death, Frank and Ora were interned in the local cemetery.

Marian’s father, Nile (Nils) Hodson (12 Nov 1897 – 8 Mar 1976) was born Earlham, Madison County, Iowa. He married Esther Helen Hanna (18 May 1897 – 1 October 1991) on 31 Dec 1919 in Thompson, Winnebago County, Iowa. They had five children: Maxine Emma Hodson (Schwabauer), born in Clear Lake, Iowa [03/14/1921 – 03/21/2019]; Marian Helen Hodson (Thompson) [02/17/1929 – 07/10/2023]; Doris Elaine Hodson (Butts) [01/12/1931 – 01/16/2001]; Kenneth Earl Hodson [07/10/1933 – 09/07/2020]; and her youngest brother Philip Allen Hodson (03/16/1937 – 01/17/1991), each born in Forest City, Iowa.

A funeral service for Marian will be held Thursday, July 20, 2023 at 12:00 PM at Wulff Funeral Home, 1485 White Bear Ave, St. Paul 55106. Interment in Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.WulffFuneralHome.com for the Thompson family.