Mariece E. Simpson
1925-2013
Tarkio, Missouri

Mariece Eleanor was born February 4, 1925, to Edward and Maynette (Carlson) Cordes in a farmhouse near Palmer, Iowa. Her family moved several times between Iowa and Washington State, and Mariece graduated from Iowa’s Gilmore City High School in 1943, during World War II.

After graduation, she was employed by Howard’s Plastics, a defense plant in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where she helped manufacture crystal radio parts for government airplanes. After the war ended, Mariece, her mother and sister relocated to Yakima, Washington, where her mother’s family owned and operated fruit orchards. Mariece became a secretary for the service department of Yakima’s Montgomery Ward store and served in that position for seven years.

In 1952, Mariece met Robert Simpson, a young army soldier stationed near Yakima and they were united in marriage on February 21, 1953, in Robert’s hometown of Tarkio, Missouri. The couple had three children, Barbara, Dianne and Robert. Mariece worked for five years in food service at Pleasant View Nursing Home in Rock Port, Missouri, and she began a popular babysitting service in 1976. For nearly thirty years, she specialized in childcare for area educators and provided loving care to many local children. She is fondly remembered by many members of this extended family as “Mama Simpson.”

Besides interacting with her own family, Mariece loved caring for children, visiting Washington State, listening to music, and reading. Mariece passed away August 7, 2013, surrounded by her family, at Tarkio Rehabilitation and Health Care, Tarkio, at the age of 88.

She was preceded in death by her parents and sister, Marilyn. Surviving family includes her husband, Robert, Sr., of the home; daughters, Barbara Tubbs and Dianne Dockins and husband, Donnie; and son, Robert, Jr., all of Tarkio; grandchildren, Charity Tubbs, Independence, Missouri, and Daniel Tubbs, and wife, Miranda, Gardner, Kansas; one great-granddaughter, Elena Tubbs; sister, Joanne Jovanovich, and husband, John, Seattle, Washington; brother, Edward Cordes, Jr.; and sisters-in-law, Marilyn Howard, Shenandoah, Iowa, and Marceline Ray, St. Joseph, Missouri.

Funeral Service: 10:30 A.M., Saturday, August 10, 2013, Davis Funeral Home, Tarkio.
Interment: Home Cemetery, Tarkio.
Open visitation will begin 9:00 A.M., Friday, August 9, 2013, at Davis Funeral Home, where the family will receive friends that evening from 7:00-8:00 P.M.
Memorials: Atchison County Library or Tarkio Rehabilitation and Health Care.
Online obituaries and condolences at www.minterfuneralchapels.com
Services: Davis Funeral Home, Tarkio.