09/19/2020

Obituary for Martha Egan “Marti” Mollenkopf

Mother of Bob Mollenkopf, Homesteaders Life Company Representative

Martha Egan “Marti” Mollenkopf, age 92, died peacefully at The Grove at Oakleaf Village where she had lived the past two and half years. She was born Irish to the core in Chicago to James W. and Kathleen O’Brien Egan and grew up in New York City. Her family moved to a farmhouse on Gunn Road, Springfield Township, in 1946 when her father took an advertising position with The Blade. She attended Mary Manse College and at the same time raised and sold turkeys on the farm with her father. Through The Blade she met Fred Mollenkopf, the son of the city editor, who was going to the University of Toledo on the GI Bill after serving in the Navy in World War II. They fell in love and were married in 1951 and moved to Cleveland and became part of the great American, postwar baby boom.

As a young mother she loved family outings whether it was day trips to the beach at Headlands State Park or camping trips in a Sears tent and sleeping bags. In the summer of 1964 while pregnant with child number seven, she and Dad loaded the kids in an old Chevy wagon, attached a rusty, rented trailer loaded with gear to the rear, and set off bravely for the Lake Michigan shore only to have the brakes completely fail on Cleveland’s Memorial Shoreway. Dad skillfully guided the car to a service station with the emergency brake where repairs were made and the trip went on.

Later trips (in a more roadworthy vehicle) included to the East Coast and west to Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Glacier national parks in the U.S. and Banff National Park in Canada. On these trips she cooked meals on a balky, pump gas stove, kept an eye on the budget, made sure Dad didn’t run out of gas, and refereed countless sibling squabbles while showing us the natural wonders of the continent.

The family moved back to Toledo in 1968 where Mom continued raising her children, eventually going back to school at UT while Dad was public information director there. During these years she was the loyal university wife, going to many football and basketball games she really didn’t care about and getting a bit of revenge by blasting her beloved, Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera broadcasts on the radio.

In 1978 she took a full-time job as Tech Media Specialist with Ida Public Schools, retiring in 1993. In retirement she and Dad traveled to Europe several times and when Alzheimer’s Disease took over his life, she saw him through his death in 2002.

In 2005 she met her second life partner, Bob Rice. She enjoyed Bob’s cooking and they walked together at Wildwood and on two continents, traveling to Japan, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Bob’s loving and loyal presence in her later years and to the end gave her a quality of life she otherwise would not have had.

In addition to husband Fred she was preceded in death by daughter Marcia Schipper and grandson Daniel Schipper. She is survived by sons Fred, Lansing, MI; Jim (Denise); Mike (Amy); Bob and Joe all of Toledo. She is also survived by daughter Ann (Chad) Wischmeyer of Atlanta and Bob Rice of Sylvania; 11 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.

Marti's private funeral Mass can be viewed via live stream at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, September 19, 2020 by visiting her Tribute Wall on her page at walker funeralhomes.com, where condolences and fond memories may also be shared with the family. She will be laid to rest at Calvary Cemetery.

The family would like to thank the many and caring hands at The Grove and at Ohio Living Hospice who guided her through her final months, good people doing good work. Those wishing to offer memorials should consider Ohio Living Hospice or Corpus Christi University Parish.

O vast tranquil peace

So deep in the afterglow!

How weary we are of wandering—

Is this perhaps death?

From Four Last Songs, by Richard Strauss