Marylea Schwenn Hall, age 97, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, passed away February 15, 2020, at her home. Marylea was born to Daniel Walter and Anna Pearl (Ayres) Green, on April 17, 1922, in Kansas City, Missouri. She was raised first on a farm near to and then in Westboro, Missouri, where she learned the importance of serving others through hard work and selflessness. Always the adventurer, she and her sister Betty Wilkinson as teenagers, took the family car without permission, driving to and back from the four-mile corner outside Westboro.

Marylea attended college and began her teaching career in Minden, Iowa, where she lived with the town marshal and his family. She met their son, Donald Glen Schwenn, when he came home from leave during WWII. Marylea fell madly in love with Don, married and gave birth to their first son, while Don “Bud” was still overseas. Marylea, always a strong, independent woman, and Don became tenant farmers for the next 20 years near Tarkio. The couple had three children, Donald Glen Schwenn II, Edith Ann “Penny” Westfall and Daniel Walter Schwenn.

Marylea was widowed when Don died suddenly from a heart attack at age 54, leaving two underage children. Marylea and the two children (10 and 15 years old) moved to Council Bluffs to be near her sister-in-law, Margaret Evans. Marylea searched for work finding it difficult as a woman, finally accepting the position as night house mother for the Mercy School of Nursing. Marylea wanted more, and at age 44, she went back to college, earning her bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate. She taught kindergarten and first grade for the next 28 years at Sunnydale and Hoover Schools in Council Bluffs. She showed tremendous love to each child she taught. Once retired, she volunteered at Jennie Edmundson Hospital and the Broadway United Methodist Church.

She met and fell in love for the second time, and married Rev. Max Hall, both at the age of 80. Marylea loved her new family that came along with Max. Rev. Max Hall passed from melanoma approximately five years after they married. Marylea continued to farm her parents’ land in Missouri, serve at the church, travel, and love all of her family.

Survivors include her three children and their loving spouses, Don and Wilda Schwenn, of Branson West, Missouri, Penny Westfall, widowed, of Van Meter, Iowa, and Dan and Stephanie Schwenn, of Loveland, Colorado; five grandchildren, Marc and Dolores Coble Schwenn, Ursula and Jason Hunter, Mathew Schwenn, Lauren and Paul Clark, and Madeline and Dan Datema; two great-grandchildren, Colton Schwenn and Chenoa Schwenn; and Rev. Max Hall’s family. She loved, and is loved and remembered by those she guided and served throughout her journey.

Visitation with the family will be Wednesday, February 19, at 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Cutler-O’Neill Funeral Home, Council Bluffs. A funeral service will be held Thursday, February 20, at 10:00 a.m., at Broadway United Methodist Church, with luncheon to follow. A graveside service will be Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Center Grove Cemetery near Westboro. Memorials may be directed to the church.