Marion Elizabeth Mott

   FamilySearch ID: GQKX-TGC. Find a Grave ID: 86817110.

  General Notes:

Ever the nurse, following her graduation from Theda Clark School of Nursing Marion received a scholarship for graduate work in surgical nursing at Belleview Hospital, New York City. After that training she worked for three years in Salem, Oregon, returning to Chicago's Cook County Hospital as neurosurgical ward supervisor until 1942 when she enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps. Serendipity stepped in when heading home to Neenah on leave in August of 1943 she was reacquainted with a former school mate, Nathan Wauda, who had enlisted in 1940, and who was also heading home to Neenah on leave. On Thanksgiving of that year he flew to Denver, where Marion was stationed training nurses at Lowry Air Base, to propose. The following September 20th Nate received orders to go overseas. He flew to Denver on a 72 hour pass and they were married on the 30th. Nate was quoted in 1995 as saying, "She outranked me when we got married and still does."

(Nate's service record indicates that he was assigned to the 1st Army Command in England from October, 1944 to January, 1945 when he was assigned to the 3rd Army, 99th Division in January. He must have wrangled a leave back to the states, for the couples' first child was born in October of 1945.)

Marion left the Army in 1945 and settled in to raise a family in Neenah. In few years following the birth of their third child in 1952 they began to realize that he was slower to develop than his older two brothers, but was not diagnosed as disabled, "retarded" in those days, until he was about to enter kindergarten. At that point Marion began looking around for support and finding little to none she helped organize and found the Neenah-Menasha Association for Retarded Children in 1957. She continued that work for years after, serving on the board of the special student Gillingham school, and Rehabilitation House, a half-way house for patients from the Winnebago State Hospital, among many other organizations and programs for special education. Her involvement in the community was not exclusive to this work (Oshkosh Daily-Northwestern, 26 Nov 1969).

There are many articles in four decades of newspapers that feature Marion in her work with the disabled, sometimes full feature articles or simply accepting a check from an organization that had contributed to organizations in which she was active.

She and her husband, who took a job with Kimberly-Clark after the war, were early members of the Neenah Historical Society, formed in 1948, and instrumental in its purchase of a permanent home in the Octagon House in 1993 (Post-Crescent, 14 Apr 1993).
Nate was proud of, and somewhat famous for his cemetery walks and depictions of the historical persons of Neenah-Menasha.

While members of the Historical Society Marion and Nate were also very much involved in the founding of the Paper International Hall of Fame in 1992 which today oversees the operation of the Paper Discovery Center in Appleton.

  Research Notes:

Major article on Marion in the Post Cresent of 8 Mar 1985 but Newspapers.com messed up with having only the part that is on page B-2. Does not have page B-1.

  Events

• Graduation: Theda Clark hospital school of nursing, 1934, Neenah, Winnebago Co., WI. ³⁵³

• Occupation: nurse at Cook County Hospital, 1940, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA. ³⁵⁴

• residence: W. Jackson Blvd, 1940, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA. ³⁵⁴

• Divorce, 1942. Following Pearl Harbor her husband was in Washington, D.C. and enlisted. He did not want children and a divorce. She wanted to enlist, and did so.

• Military: Enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps, 1942, Neenah, Winnebago Co., WI. Working at St. Lukes Hospital. Sworn in by her father. 2nd Lieutenant

• Award: Distinguished Service Award, 27 Jan 1964, Neenah, Winnebago Co., WI. ³⁵⁵ The first ever award presented to a woman by the local Neenah-Menasha Junior Chamber of Commerce. Awarded for "...her continued work in mental health and aid to the handicapped and retarded, both children and grown-ups."

• Oral History: Oral History with Marion Wauda, 2 Nov 1978, Neenah, Winnebago Co., WI. Oral history done by Michael O'Brien archived in the online University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.https://goo.gl/gocksw or search Wauda at https://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/WI/NeenahLocHist/

• Obituary: Appleton Post-Crescent, 13 Mar 2006, Appleton, Outagamie Co., Wisconsin. "Marion E. Wauda met the Good Shepherd on Saturday, March 11, 2006, following a short illness. She was born on Dec. 19, 1913, in Neenah to Mayhew and Emma Mott. She graduated Theda Clark's School of Nursing in 1934 and was awarded a scholarship to continue in surgical nursing at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. Later, she worked in the ER at Cook County General Hospital in Chicago and as chief nurse at Salem General Hospital in Salem, Ore. Marion entered military service in 1942, at Buckley Field in Denver, Colo. She was assigned chief nurse at the US Air Force Hospital at Lowry Field in Denver, Colo., where she married Nathan H. Wauda on Sept. 30, 1944. Marion Wauda was the founder of the Neenah-Menasha Assoc. of Retarded Citizens in 1954, and she was also a member of the Winnebago County board. She was employed at Kimberly-Clark Corp. and was a former member of the Women's Tuesday Club of Neenah. Marion served as an elder at First Presbyterian Church in Neenah, and she served as president of the Neenah Historical Society. Both Marion and Nathan were directors emeritus of the Paper Industry Hall of Fame in Appleton.

Marion is survived by her husband of 62 years, Nathan H. Wauda; two sons, Richard Wauda, Bellingham, Wash.; and Charles (Raylene) Wauda; Appleton, Wis.; one grandson, Mason (Amy) Wauda; and her two great-grandchildren, Makena and Madison, Milwaukie, Ore. Marion is further survived by cousins, John and Betty Helms, Jon and Helen Wauda, and Howard Meyer; and by nieces and nephews, Sara (Bob) McPherson, Jim (Elaine) Spicer, Steve (Cara) Spicer, John (Missy) Mott, Jennifer (Bob) Decker, Tom (Carol) Mott, Peter (Cheri) Mott, Debbie (Greg) Holz and Cindy (Howard) Brown.

She was preceded in death by one son, Robert; a sister, Ruth (Fr. William) Spicer; a brother, Edward (Ned and his wife, Martha) Mott; and a twin brother, Robert (Eva) Mott.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, March 16, 2006, at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, Neenah. Family and friends may visit at Westgor Funeral Home, Neenah on Wednesday, March 15, 2006, from 4 to 8 p.m. and again at the church on Thursday from 10 a.m. until the time of the service. Interment will take place in Oak Hill Cemetery, Neenah. A memorial fund is being established to benefit the Neenah/Menasha A.R.C. and the Neenah Historical Society. "

Marion married Walter Weaver 31 Dec 1938 in Neenah, Winnebago Co., WI.³⁵² (Walter Weaver was born 9 Jun 1915 in Neilsville, Clark Co., WI ³⁵⁴ and died 12 Feb 2000 in Orange Park, Clay Co., FL ³⁵⁶.)

Marion next married Nathan Wauda, son of Emil Gustav Woydarch (Wauda) and Elizabeth Malchow, 30 Sep 1944 in Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, CO. (Nathan Wauda was born 29 Jul 1912, died 12 Mar 2008 in Neenah, Winnebago Co., WI and was buried 15 Mar 2008 in Neenah, Winnebago Co., WI.)