Marita S. Garbs

Marita Rose Schulte Garbs, 90, died Tuesday, August 12, 2025, at Aspen Valley Senior Home in her beloved Washington.

A lifelong resident, Marita seemed to know everyone in

town, whether from her many years of fitting the feet of its citizens at Brown's Family Shoe, her 45+ years as a Cedarcrest Manor volunteer who helped its residents attend Saturday Mass there, to more recently, holding court in booth 33 at Rothschilds Family Restaurant alongside her husband Bob, who died in 2023. She was the epitome of small town values: friendly, faith-filled and fiercely committed to family.

The third child of Alfred Schulte and Julitta (Hillermann) Schulte, Marita arrived on July 6, 1935, in their home at 610 East Third Street. She joined four-year-old big brother Donald and was eventually joined by sister Carol (Willming) and baby brother Richard. The stories of her ordinary but idyllic upbringing have become family lore: sledding down Third Street hill, walking to St. Francis Borgia Grade School in saddle shoes, using her lunch money for paper dolls, Daddy walking to work at the Bank of Washington, and walking home for lunch and Fat Grandma pulling on the steering wheel yelling ?whoa!?? as she drove into the porch at the Hillermann Farm. She graduated from St. Francis Borgia High School in 1953, in spite of receiving an ?F? in religion from Sr. Mary Alphonse. She was the quintessential well-behaved ?'good girl'?who fell in love with a 'bad boy', ?that Garb's boy?? Bob, who later became her husband.

In 1955, however, at age 20, her idyllic young life was interrupted when her stalwart accomplished father was killed as a passenger in a wreck on Dead Man's Curve on old Highway 47. Twelve years later, another tragedy befell the family when her cherished brother Richard was found dead one morning during his training at St. Louis College of Pharmacy.

After Marita and Bob married in July of 1956, they began a simple sweet life in the lifelong home they built on Alberta Lane. She worked at Deb Shoe Factory, JC Penney's, Jefferson Products and then Brown's Family Shoe and Catalog Center while Bob worked the line at General Motors. She kept the tidiest of homes, scrubbing baseboard corners with toothbrushes and washing windows every spring and fall.

Monday was always wash day. When Bob became a Mid American bus driver, she packed his bag with crisply ironed shirts and love notes and counted the hours until he returned. Marita and Bob were never blessed with children of their own, but Marita became the special aunt and great-aunt and great-great aunt to more than 100, many of whom thought they were her favorite. She singlehandedly may have kept Hallmark in business from the Christmas ornaments she bought for her ?children? and the greeting cards she mailed them, each featuring her tidy, perfect handwriting, complete with trademark angled ?and??in the ?Love and prayers, Uncle Bob and Aunt Marita? signature.

As Bob's health declined, she became his attentive and tender nurse until he passed in 2023. She retained her independence into her ninetieth year, driving herself on the quiet streets she knew and loved so well: the beauty parlor, the grocery store, Thierbach's for peaches and tomatoes, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Rothschilds Table 33 for breakfast, every day, no matter the weather. Some days she even had lunch and supper from there as well. She treated those in the surrounding booths and the staff as members of her family. Everyone was special and precious to her.

Her Catholic faith was always her foundation. Regular Mass and prayer hour attendance. Daily recitation of the rosary and prayers on her breezeway. When Our Lady of Lourdes was established, it became her church for many decades. Her donation of the Holy Family statues that graced the original sanctuary now serve in the hallways of the Vianney Center in Dittmer. She befriended, fed and kept in touch with dozens of priests. For more than 45 years, she and Bob transformed the Cedarcrest cafeteria into a Saturday Mass chapel, lovingly wheeling in the residents. After Cedarcrest closed, her ministry to the elderly continued with regular visits to Grandview Care Center and finally Aspen Valley, which she visited faithfully even after her brother Don passed away there.

Recently, she suffered several strokes. Even the excellent and loving care of Dr. Valleroy and Aspen Valley and Heartland Hospice teams could not prevent the fading and slowing of her big, lovely heart. She died peacefully, having been cared for by her 'children', family and devoted friends. Her departure leaves a gaping hole in many lives.

She was preceded in death by husband Robert J. Garbs; parents Alfred L. and Julitta K. (Hillermann) Schulte; siblings, Donald A. Schulte and wife Betty; sister Carol A. Willming and husband Donald; siblings Marilyn and Richard; godson Stephen Willming; and many dear members of the Garbs family.

She is survived by brother-in-law Gustave Garbs, Washington; and many, many nieces; nephews; cousins and friends.

Independent and thoughtful, she planned her own funeral. A celebration of her life will be held on Thursday, August 28, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. with a recitation of the rosary at 10:45 a.m.

A Funeral Mass will follow at 11 a.m. A luncheon will be held afterward in the lower level of the Knights of Columbus Hall.

Private interment will take place at the St. Francis Borgia Cemetery, where she will be laid to rest forever alongside her beloved Bob.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Our Lady of Lourdes, Grotto Fund, 1014 Madison Avenue, Washington, MO 63090.

The Garbs family is being served by Nieburg-Vitt, Miller Funeral Home, Washington.