Marguerite Osterman

On November 1, All Saints Day, Marge Osterman, 69, died in Danbury Hospital.

A 30-year resident of Newtown, Mrs Osterman was very involved in the town. When her boys, David, now 37, and Thomas, 32, were in school, she volunteered many hours at the Middle School Library. She was born in Jersey City, N.J., daughter of the late Frank and Margaret (Budnich) Ohlendorf, June 11, 1931. An active member of St Rose Church, she served as secretary for ten years from 1977 to 1987 and then, a few years later, served as church secretary at St Aloysius Church in New Canaan for two and a half years.

In recent years she became very involved with Rotary, assisting her husband, Ed, when he became president of Newtown Rotary and then in 1996-97 when he became governor of Rotary District 7980 (covers four lower counties in Connecticut).

She was a board member of the Women’s Club, the CWU (Christian Women United), and the World Health through Technology Foundation (WHT), a philanthropic organization that supports humanitarian projects worldwide. She was also a member of St Rose Women’s Club and worked at the Cyrenius Booth Library mending books.

Prior to their move to Newtown, Mrs and Mr Osterman lived in Cedar Grove, N.J.; Edinburgh, Scotland; Geneva, Switzerland; and San Francisco, Calif. Both Mrs and Mr Osterman grew up in Northern New Jersey and met 50 years ago as members of a Catholic Youth Organization in Fairview, N.J. Mr Osterman spent two years on active duty with the United States Navy during the Korean War and upon his discharge they married on October 24, 1953, and celebrated their 47th anniversary just before Mrs Osterman passed away.

Besides her devoted husband, Ed, Mrs Osterman has two sons, David, who lives with his wife, Kimberly, in Salt Lake City, and Thomas, who lives in Danbury. Mrs Osterman’s family also includes her brothers, Albert and his wife, Kiyoko, with three sons and one daughter in Imperial Beach, Calif., and Frank and his wife, Anna, with four daughters and two sons living in Paramus, N.J.

A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated November 6 in St Rose Church, Church Hill Road, Newtown. Interment was in St Rose Cemetery.

Contributions in Mrs Osterman’s memory may be made to the American Cancer Society or Newtown Rotary Foundation, PO Box 263, Newtown, CT 06470

The Newtown Bee     November 10, 2000