Marie Holub was born on April 17, 1927 to Frank and Mary (Vavra) Cervenka in Mosher, SD. At the age of two they moved to a farm northeast of Winner. She completed her eighth grade in a rural school. Marie attended Gregory High School, graduating with the Class of 1944.She was united in marriage to Frank Holub on August 30, 1948 and to this union two children were born-Duane and Terry.
Marie was born on Easter Sunday, which explains her “Esther” middle name. Her birth date/Easter coincided three more times: 1938, 1949 and 1960.
Child of the Depression, Marie learned to do a lot with a little, lessons she held tight across nine decades of life. She enjoyed life’s simplicity, if not its modesty. She profiled life’s sincerity. One of her favorite retells was that of receiving a paper cut-out doll for Christmas, that year’s only present.
Her first job out of Gregory High School was at Winner’s Omaha Cold Storage, one of nine bookkeepers so employed at the time. The job’s specifics: 40 cents an hour, nine hours a day, six days a week; five vacation days, no sick leave. Marie paid $2.00 a week for a room in Winner at that time. A group of women friends would meet at the Sweetshop (later Andy’s Jewelry) for a $1.50 lunch.
Following five years at the Cold Storage, Marie worked two years at Beaulieu, Backus and Bailie Hardware, three years at McCormick Hardware, then a year with the Union Credit Corporation. During all this time she was heralded for her accuracy and speed with stenography (shorthand).
Come 1960 she joined the staff of the former ASCS office in Winner. She was the wheat and feed grain clerk. During this tenure she endeared herself to area farm families by her dedication to detail and astute comprehension of ever-changing government programs. Due to cutbacks insisted by the Nixon Administration, Marie lost her ASCS job in 1973.
A woman of her temperament would not be unemployed long. She was not. Within short order First Fidelity Bank came calling. Marie started another chapter that 1973 by accepting a job to the bank’s bookkeeping department, a place she’d work the next 22 years, ascending to head bookkeeper. There were nine bookkeepers when Marie started, and almost all the work was done manually. (Remember when you received cancelled checks in the mail? Whom do you think did that?)
The 1970s begat the 80s and its techno revolution. First Fidelity’s bookkeeping department installed its first computer in 1981. Subsequent years required updates to the upgrades. Marie retired from First Fidelity in 1995, culmination of a 46-year professional career in Winner. But per her want to give and share and stay active, Marie’s work career would take one last turn when, post-Fidelity, she began a 14-year stint at Golden Prairie Manor where she qualified as a medication aide and also as a food server.
She freely gave time, leadership and support to the Winner Senior Center, relinquishing her treasurer duties but two weeks before her death.
Marie cared and took care. As siblings and friends fell victim to age and illness, she volunteered time and loved to assist in manners intimate to each. Travel distance mattered not. The more Marie was needed the more Marie needed to be there.
Marie enjoyed grandson Matt’s plays at the Mason City Community Theatre; chartering Nevada flights with grandson Chris to engage in wholesome casino-related activities; reviewing and attending screenings of grandson Grant’s Black Hills Video airings; attending witness to granddaughter Jacie’s rise within respective Air Force/Air Force Reserve and nursing careers; the birth and growth of great-grandsons Gavin and Liam, and great-granddaughter Addison.
Marie bowled many years. Hosted and attended numerous card parties. She absolutely loved to dance, recalling with fondness the old South Hall and present- day Carlock. Her last dance was Labor Day weekend at the Winner Legion. Marie and Frank’s 40th Anniversary dance in Dallas remains a seminal moment.
The VFW and American Legion and Auxiliary were important to her; at times, it appeared, she could not volunteer enough. A lifelong Catholic, she dutifully gave time and effort and experience. Professional and personal awards and honors too numerous to mention. She hosted Christmas at her Lincoln Street home, and an every-other-year Thanksgiving gathering enjoyed by Frank’s side of the family. Following Frank’s death, Marie enjoyed casual companionship with friend Walt and then Tom.
Marie traveled through each of the lower Forty-Eight. A fan of country music, trips to Nashville and Branson were, in a word, mandated. As were polka bands across the Upper Midwest. Marie and Frank pulled a small trailer to many a state park for weekend camping and fishing excursions, oftentimes accompanied by their grandchildren. Marie loved her time on the ‘van’ with friends en route to Rosebud or Radar or Flandreau. She will miss you all so very much.
Marie belonged to numerous organizations. She held offices in Catholic Daughters, American Legion Auxiliary, VFW Auxiliary, Business & Professional Women, Past President Parley American Legion, and was a 10 year Counselor for Jr. Catholic Daughters.
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