Marlea L. Mikulski, age 76, of Marion passed away Saturday, March 28, 2020 at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, Appleton after a brief fight with gallbladder cancer.
Marlea Lillian Felts was born on June 5, 1943 in Kenosha to Florian and Lillian (Domke) Felts. She lived in White Lake on a potato farm for a few years. She moved to Clintonville and graduated from Clintonville High School in 1961. Upon graduation, she moved to Appleton and worked at AAL until she got married. Marlea was united in marriage on September 28, 1963 to Lyle M. Mikulski at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, Clintonville, WI. In 1969-1970 they built a house in Marion where she resided for the rest of her life. Marlea also worked at the Clintonville Clinic amongst various other jobs and was a stay-at-home mom until her children were in school. In 1977, she found her passion as a school bus driver. She drove for Marion School District for 36 years until she retired in 2013 at age 70. Marlea was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Marion for 50 years. She enjoyed directing the children’s choir while her four girls were in the choir. Marlea enjoyed playing the flute, the piano, the pipe organ, and she also enjoyed singing. She had a passion for music, which she passed on to all four of her daughters. Throughout her life, Marlea also enjoyed crocheting, knitting, sewing, cross stitching, scrapbooking, snowmobiling, playing cards, playing board games, dancing, bowling, shooting pool in a couples league with her husband, going to movies, and attending theatre productions. Marlea was also an active member of the Marion Lioness Club and the Red Hat Ladies.
Survivors include her husband of 56 years, Lyle; four children, Teresa (Larry) Lemke of Black Creek, Connie (Jon) Olsen of St. Ignas, MI, Julie (Clint) Thobaben of Waupaca, and Janet (Ron) Flater of Waupaca. There are seven grandchildren (Madison and Gunnar Olsen, Trevor Flater, Rachel and Matthew Thobaben, Bradley Lemke, and Camron Wadzinski). She is also survived by four sisters: Linda (Andy) Pauls of Marion, Marsha (Dave) Mavis of Albuquerque, NM; Sarah (Mark) Prange of Indianapolis, IN; Mary Felts of Marion, and one brother Donald (Judy) Felts of De Pere. Further survived by a brother-in-law, Art (Shirley) Mikulski of Hortonville; and many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. Marlea was preceded in death by her parents Florian and Lillian Felts; an infant son Alan Lyle Mikulski; father and mother-in-law, Martin and Myra Mikulski; and a sister-in-law Doris (Kenneth) Huebner Sr.
A private family funeral service will be held on Tuesday, March 31st at Beil-Didier Funeral Home, Marion. Pastor Roald Harswick will officiate and burial will be at Greenleaf Cemetery, Marion. Please go to www.beil-didier.com to sign the online guestbook or to send a card to the family.
Our family wishes to thank the doctors and the nurses at ThedaCare Reginal Medical Center for the exceptional care they provided for our mother. We also wish to give a special thank you to Nurse Practitioner Tina Bettin, Oncologist Dr. Stanelle and hospital Chaplain Mateo RamirezRodriguez.