Marilyn Helen Gotsch

Marilyn Helen Gotsch was born February 8, 1932, in Detroit, Michigan, the second child of Ernst and Henrietta Masch, and was baptized at East Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Detroit.  She and her older sister, Shirley, and younger brother, David, grew up in the house her parents built on land that had once been part of her grandfather’s farm. She attended a public elementary school, but her eighth grade year was spent at the new grade school at East Bethlehem. She graduated from Pershing High School, right down the street from home, and then traveled all the way to Seward, Nebraska, to attend Concordia College. Three years later, in the fall of 1952, she went out “supply teaching” at a Lutheran school in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

But back home in Detroit, she had met Herb Gotsch, the young organist at East Bethlehem. They married on August 9, 1953, and after a honeymoon trip to the Great Smoky Mountains they settled into a new school year, where she taught first grade at East Bethlehem. Daughter Gwen was born the next summer, and in 1955, Herb accepted a call to Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Saginaw where daughters Linda and Karen were born. In 1958 Herb joined the music faculty at Concordia College in River Forest and the family moved to Illinois, to a house on Beloit Avenue in Forest Park near Herb’s family in Oak Park and next door to Herb’s aunts. 

Marilyn took the girls to church, taught Sunday School and sang in the choir at St. John Lutheran Church in Forest Park, but often referred to herself as a “Sunday morning widow” since Herb’s Sunday organ jobs were at other churches farther from home. She managed the house and the kids while Herb taught at Concordia and completed a doctorate at Northwestern. Then it was her turn to go back to school, finishing up her bachelor’s degree at Concordia in the late 1960s. She later earned a master’s in education. She served as a substitute teacher in the Forest Park public schools, a library aide at Holmes School in Oak Park, and, after Herb taught her to drive, as a reading teacher at Immanuel Lutheran School in Hillside. By this time he was organist there; she sang in his choir and they were once again attending the same church on Sunday mornings. 

Herb was diagnosed with brain cancer in December of 1983 and died on March 8, 1984. It was a hard time for Marilyn, but her life was brightened by the arrival of grandchildren, starting with Linda’s daughter Gerianne in June 1984. She was always happy to babysit. There were many afternoons when Linda’s kids, Gwen’s kids, the nieces and nephew who lived next door, and a few additional friends played happily at Grandma’s. She was also Grandma to Karen’s daughter, Claire, and to the toddlers and preschoolers Karen cared for in home daycare. As the grandkids got older, she was happy to take them shopping and out for lunch; she was patient with them and they with her. 

Marilyn had an adventurous spirit. Family vacations included hiking through state parks in Indiana and trips to the historical sites on the east coast. She and Herb took long car trips out west in the years before he died, and after his death she traveled with friends to Germany, Spain and France. She also came along on camping trips with the grandchildren and trips to La Leche League Conferences with Gwen and her kids. She sang in a community choir based at Wheaton College and took botanical drawing classes at the Morton Arboretum. At home in Forest Park she tended her flower garden and cared for two cockatoos inherited from a friend. 

Marilyn loved books and learning. The Forest Park library was only a few blocks away and books for kids and grown-ups came home by the wagonload. After retiring from teaching she discovered that for a modest fee senior citizens could audit classes at Concordia. She plunged in wholeheartedly and took at least one class every semester, often two, enjoying history and literature courses, art, and even a semester of Latin. She was a familiar figure on the Concordia campus, rounding out her day by attending chapel and eating lunch in the cafeteria. 

Marilyn moved from her house in Forest Park to a condo in Oak Park in 2002 and joined Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest a few years later. She sang in Women’s Choir and attended Cornerstones. She soldiered on through hip replacements and other challenges of aging and finally moved to assisted living at Belmont Village in Oak Park in June of 2021. She passed away peacefully on September 23, 2024. 

She is survived by her daughters, Gwen Gotsch, Linda Johnson (Joe), and Karen Rohde (Frank); grandchildren Gerianne, Ted (Jessica), and Lauren Johnson (Phil); Eliza and Kurt Grahnke and Claire Rohde; and by great-grandchildren Logan, Lyla, Caleb and Chloe Johnson. Her husband, Herbert M. Gotsch, Jr., siblings Shirley Pankow and David Masch, and grandson Kristoffer Grahnke preceded her in death. 

The funeral service will take place at Grace Lutheran Church, 7300 Division Street, in River Forest, on Saturday, October 5, 11am, with visitation at the church at 10am. A luncheon follows the service in Grace’s Fellowship Hall. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made in Marilyn’s name to Concordia University Chicago in support of scholarships for Lutheran teachers, the Chicagoland Lutheran Educational Foundation, or Bach Cantata Vespers at Grace Lutheran Church.