She was the youngest of three children born to Adam and Helen Thomson. She survived her brother, James, and sister, Athalie (Crusing). Marian attended Raster Elementary School, Harper and Jones Commercial high schools, and was a member of Marlboro Community Church.
When she was young, her father and mother bought a vacation/ retirement home on Pike Lake in Siren, WI, which was very much a part of her life into her adulthood. In the late 1940’s, she and her first husband, Arnold Gehmlich, purchased her parents’ house in Chicago then moved to Norridge, IL, in 1954. She stayed there after he passed away in 1961. Then, she married Joseph (Cubby) Kiolbasa in 1967, and they lived there until he passed away in 2001. In 2002, Marian bought a single-family home in Grand Haven retirement community in Romeoville, IL, and lived there until she moved in with her daughter and husband in Machesney Park, IL, in March 2014.
She was a sweet, gentle, funny, and loving person, who rarely complained about anything. She was known for her beautiful smile, quick wit, kind heart, and willingness to help out whenever and wherever she could. She loved going on senior tours/outings; playing Keno, Scrabble, Pinochle, 500 Rummy and Bunco; working in her word search books; and being with family and friends.
When her children were young, Marian served as president of the PTA at Pennoyer Elementary School and was a member of several women’s clubs. Arnold was a cameraman for 12 years for WGN-TV. After he passed away, she worked 7 years for them in their Art & Facilities, Sales Promotion & Research, and Script Typing departments, with duties ranging from secretarial to typing scripts, program ratings, cue cards, and various statistical reports; conducting surveys; and accounting. While there, she met Jack Brickhouse, Bob Bell (Bozo), Vince Lloyd, Harry Volkman, and other WGN notables. She later worked for Gleeson Sklar & Sawyer accounting firm and Illinois Tool Works before retiring in 1991.
Marian loved to travel. Before a recent 10-day family trip to Santa Rosa, FL, this July, in North America alone, she had been as far west as Seattle and San Francisco, north as Ontario, CN, south as Dallas, and east as Arlington, VA, and Washington DC. Las Vegas was one of her favorite places to visit. She and Cubby were married in a little chapel there, and they got to see Elvis perform in 1970. In the late 1970’s, she and two of her first cousins took a vacation to the Shetland Isles to visit family and see the house where her father was born. Highlights of her FL vacation included strolling down the Harborwalk in Destin and wading in the Gulf of Mexico off Dune Allen Beach. It was the first time ever she went into the water of a major ocean.
Beloved mother of Linda (Dan) O’Donnell of Arlington Heights, IL; Christine (Denny) Smith of Machesney Park, IL; and Arnold (Karen) Gehmlich of Schaumburg, IL; grandmother of Marty O’Donnell of Arlington Heights, IL; Tim (Jacki) O’Donnell of Camdenton, MO; and Mark (Shari) Kendall of Lancaster, PA; and great grandmother of Ashley O’Donnell, Andrew and Kaeleb O’Donnell, and Jaydin Kendall. A heartache of Marian’s and family was the passing of her granddaughter and Arnold and Karen’s only child, Lee Ann Gehmlich, shortly after her birth in 1987.
A private family interment was held at Beverly Cemetery, Blue Island, IL, on September 30, 2015
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