Margaret Barbara (Weidenbenner) Butzen, 96, passed away Tuesday, June 28, at home. Visitation will be on Tuesday, July 5, at Ottawa Funeral Home from 9:00 to 10:10 AM, with the Holy Rosary at 9:00 AM. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at St. Francis Catholic Church at 10:30 AM, with Monsignor Mark Merdian officiating. Father Patrick Hirtz, great nephew of Margaret, will concelebrate the Mass, along with Father Mike Adrie, special friend of the family.
Margaret was born on July 19, 1925, in Glennonville, Missouri, to William and Johanna Weidenbenner. She was the eighth out of nine children. She attended a small public school taught by Catholic Ursuline Sisters. She grew up on a family farm, learning how to milk cows, chop and pick cotton, take care of chickens, garden, sew, crochet, cook, and fish.
Margaret married William Joseph Butzen on Feb. 20, 1950, moving to the Butzen family farm in Poplar Bluff, MO, about twenty miles from her home. They raised four daughters, Joanne, Rita, Phyllis, and Rosemary. They farmed there until 1965 when they moved to Ottawa, Illinois, for better opportunities to provide for their growing family. Margaret valued her Catholic Faith, and insisted that each of her children receive a Catholic school education.
She worked in a number of jobs in Ottawa, starting as the head librarian at St. Columba School. She worked at several department stores as a clerk and as an assistant business manager, making many sacrifices so that her daughters could attend St. Columba Grade School, Marquette H.S., and even Catholic colleges in Chicago.
Margaret was a wonderful wife and mother! She taught her daughters the skills that she knew - sewing, crocheting, cooking, gardening, canning fruits and vegetables, taking care of chickens, chopping and picking cotton, and love for hard work. She shared her many God-given talents with her family, relatives, and friends - crocheting afghans, sewing clothes, making various crafts, baking and cooking delicious meals. She opened her heart and her home to her children and her grandchildren, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, friends, and those lucky people who were placed in her path!
One of her most cherished activities was to attend daily Mass after moving to Ottawa. In her later years, she loved watching daily Mass and praying the Rosary on EWTN, and spent many hours talking to her children, her grandchildren, and some nieces and nephews on the phone.
Margaret is going to be truly missed by her family who remain: her four daughters and their husbands, Joanne (Jim) Sheridan, Rita (David) Murdock, Phyllis Butzen, and Rosemary (Kevin) Beever, along with her six cherished grandchildren, Tony (Andrea), Robert (Jennifer), and Michael Murdock, Joseph Butzen, and Michael and Therese Beever, her four great-grandchildren, Ryan, Corinne, Waylon, and Alva Murdock, and her many nieces and nephews.
Margaret was preceded in death by her husband, William, Nov. 1, 2021, her parents, William and Johanna Weidenbenner, her eight siblings, Tony, Willy, Minnie, Herbert, Teresa, Oscar, Othmar, and Joseph, and some nieces and nephews.
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