Obituaries

 

Marlene Evelyn Drake

Marlene Evelyn Drake, age 85, died peacefully at home of natural causes on Monday, October 26, 2020.  She was born on July 3, 1935 in Waterloo, Wisconsin to Ervin Henry Dietrich and Etta Mae (Bowden) Dietrich.  She graduated from Juneau High School in 1953.  She married Robert Charles Drake on June 6, 1954 at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Oak Grove, Wisconsin.  Marlene was a homemaker, raising three children with Robert in Watertown and Portage.  She was a devoted wife to her husband Bob until he passed of cancer in 2001.  They loved to visit and play cards with their many friends, to dance the polka and the waltz, and to travel in their camper all over the country, and then further all over the globe.  Marlene was an avid reader all of her life.  She had a beautiful singing voice.  She was a generous and loving grandmother to her grandchildren and to her two great-grandchildren.  We are all grateful for Marlene and Robert’s life-long love, and the blessing of the home and life they created together.

Marlene is survived by her three children, Jeffrey Drake of Minneapolis, MN, Kimberly Drake of Cross Plains, WI, and David Drake of Middleton, WI; her brother Arnold Dietrich of Madison, WI; a sister-in-law Shirley (Tom) Johnson of New Berlin, WI and a sister-in-law Florence Dietrich of Iron Ridge, WI; a daughter-in-law Annmarie Carlson Drake of Mankato, MN; four grandchildren Natasha Drake, Jeremy (Tarin) Drake, Alyssa Drake and Kathleen  (Mathew) Behrn; and two great-grandchildren Cameron and Jackson Drake, and many nieces and nephews.

Marlene was preceded in death by her parents, her step-mother Frances Dietrich, her sister Lucille Mae Fischer, and her brothers Ervin Junior, Orville, Ronald, and Kenneth.

Funeral services and inurnment will be postponed until a later date. Pflanz Mantey Mendrala Funeral Home in Portage has assisted the family along with Pastor Greg Hovland of  St. John’s  Lutheran Church in Portage.  Friends may leave condolences and memories of Marlene; please see below.

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Obituaries
For information please call 608 742-2126 (Portage, WI) or 608 635-2763 (Poynette, WI)