Mrs. Eunice Marlene (Osborn-Arens) Westergren, 86, of La Porte, Ind., passed away Sunday, May 9, 2021, at Settlers House in La Porte.
She was born Sept. 3, 1934, in Valparaiso, Ind., to Sheldon Eugene and Helen Eunice (Foltz) Wolfe and had lived in La Porte since 1954, coming from Watertown, N.Y.
Marlene was a 1952 graduate of Valparaiso High School and later attended Valparaiso University. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in many capacities.
Marlene was an accomplished pianist and organist. Her children lovingly remember a home filled with classical music. She had taught piano since 1960, teaching scores of young students, and also accompanied Tri Kappa’s Carnation Capers and the La Porte County Choralaires. She started “The Secretariat”, a telephone answering and medical secretarial service, owned a health food store for two years, and was an obituary editor at The La Porte Herald-Argus for a number of years. For more than 60 years, she was an accompanist for adults and primary-school children at church meetings. Marlene had a love for family history and assisted many people in searching out their ancestors.
On March 6, 1953, in San Francisco, Calif., she married David Woodson Osborn, who passed on May 21, 1974. Together with their children, David and Marlene were sealed in the Manti, Utah, Temple on Aug. 21, 1971. On June 30, 2006, Marlene married Gordon Lewis Westergren, who survives.
Also surviving are her two daughters, Jody Rae (Dwight) Ames of Union Mills, Ind., and Michelle Diane (Matthew) Rozinski of Michigan City, Ind.; three sons, Steven Woodson (Jeanne) Osborn, Thomas Irvin (April) Osborn II, and David Brian Osborn, all of La Porte; 4 stepchildren, Louis (Kelly) Boswell III of Richland, Mich., Jeffrey (Vickie) Westergren of Yoakum, Tex., Eric (Ronda) Westergren of Lake Charles, La., and Kristen (Tom) Westergren Cleland of Kalamazoo, Mich,; 17 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; 4 step-grandchildren; 3 great-step-grandchildren; 1 great-great-step-grandchild; sister, Nancy Lee (Dennis) Hrinda of Bloomberg, Pa.; and brother, Robert Eugene Wolfe of Ann Arbor, Mich.
She was preceded in death by her parents; first husband; and 2 great-grandchildren, Kayla Grace and Kayden Matthew Ames.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 1 p.m. Monday, May 17, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, La Porte, with Bishop Benjamin Palmer officiating. Burial will follow at Oak Grove Cemetery, Mill Creek, Ind. Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, May 16, at Cutler Funeral Home and Cremation Center, La Porte, and from 11 a.m. until the service Monday at the church.
Anyone attending the visitation and/or service is required to wear a mask.
Memorial donations may be made to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 220 Crescent Dr., La Porte, Ind. 46350
Messages of condolence may be posted below.