Marlene Nation

Memorial services for Marlene Nation, 86, of Vandalia, will be 2:00 PM Sunday, November 16, 2025, at Bienhoff Funeral Home in Vandalia with pastor Jamie Franke officiating.
Visitation will be Saturday November 15, 2025, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Bienhoff Funeral Home in Vandalia.
Marlene Hitz was born March 3, 1939, 3 miles west of Laddonia, MO on the Hitz family farm. She is the daughter of John E Hitz and Emma Elizabeth Righter Hitz. She attended school in Laddonia, and later at Community R6, graduating in 1957. She then attended Jewish Hospital School of Nursing for 3 years, graduating in 1960. She married the love of her life, Don Nation, in 1960 and they lived on a farm. Together they had four children: Warren Dale (1961), Julie Gayle (1966), Jolene Sue (1967), and Wesley Dean (1971).
She was blessed with eight grandchildren; Nicole, Haley, Michael, David, Megan, Jeramiah, Emma, and Grace, along with twelve great grandchildren and one great great grandchild.
Marlene is also survived by one sister Betty Fischer along with nieces, nephews, other relatives and a host of friends.
She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, one brother Walter Hitz, one sister; Anna Hill, and one great grandchild Gabriel Becker.
Marlene loved family, farming, sewing, baking cinnamon rolls, and creating gifts to give others. She enjoyed cooking a meal once a week for new single teachers from the Vandalia schools that she invited into her home for a time of socializing. She attended first Presbyterian Church in Vandalia. Marlene and her husband also enjoyed backpacking in the Rocky Mountains on vacation each year. They took a missionary trip to Honduras, and traveled often for pleasure. She and Don were active participants in the Heifer Project International. This organization helps families lift themselves out of hunger and poverty by not only giving livestock to those in need of help, but also training them to care for the animals properly and making provisions to keep the giving going to others. Marlene wants you all to know "Don't be sad for me. I've had a good long life, lived well and happy, and have literally been to the mountaintop!"
Memorials to Heifer Project International in care of Bienhoff Funeral Home PO Box 54 Vandalia, MO 63382