Obit: Plummer, Marietta (1968 – 2009)
Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Plummer, Conner, Kurth, Van Ert, Zahn, Fitzmaurice, Canfield, Klink

----Source: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wood County, Wis.) Wednesday, 11 Mar. 2009

----Plummer, Marietta (11 Oct. 1968 – 10 Mar. 2009)

EAU CLAIRE -- After 40 years of showing us how to live, Marietta Plummer of Eau Claire showed us how to pass away with grace and dignity. She died early Tuesday morning at Luther Hospital, Eau Claire, after a spirited battle with cancer.

A funeral Mass will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 12, at Immaculate Conception Church, 1722 Highland Ave., with Father Eugene Klink presiding. A visitation will be held today, Wednesday evening March 11, from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Fuller-Speckien-Hulke Funeral Home, 3209 Rudolph Road. Family and friends may call at church one hour prior to Mass on Thursday afternoon. Pallbearers will be brothers and other family members.

Marietta was born Oct. 11, 1968, to Jeanette and Wayne Conner of Chili. She graduated Marshfield Senior High School in 1987 and then attended the UW-Eau Claire, graduating summa cum laude with a master's degree in Speech and Language Pathology.

She married her high school sweetheart, Scott Plummer, July 2, 1988, at St. John's Catholic Church in Marshfield.

Marietta masterfully balanced family and career. She was a speech and language clinician for the Independence School District 1992-2000, and then operated her own "Little Puttors Day Care" from her home for four years so she could care for her own and others' young children. She edited specialty books for speech and hearing impaired children at "Thinking Publications" from 2004-2005.

She returned to hands-on speech therapy at Mondovi Schools in 2005, where she forged a special bond with her students and their parents. In 2008 she was awarded the "Golden Apple Award" recognizing her "excellence of teaching."

Marietta approached her diagnosis with determination, realism, and a great faith. She was very prepared for her last day and made many coherent decisions for her care right to the end. Many tears have flowed this last year. Many more will flow in the coming. We know there is a big hole in all of our lives at the moment, but we are focusing on what a great person Marietta was and continues to be, and not what cancer did to her body.

Marietta is survived by her husband; her daughter and son, Kortney and Evan who reside at home; her mother, Jeanette (Jerome) Kurth; her eight siblings, Jody (Judy) of Neillsville, Elizabeth (Shane) Van Ert of Wisconsin Rapids, Laura Mae (Jerald) Zahn of Marshfield, Mitchell (Chari) of Chili, Christopher (Connie) of Marshfield, Gretchen (Ricky) Fitzmaurice of Neillsville, Ted of Marshfield, and Brendon (Brittany) of Marshfield; and her grandmother, Elizabeth Canfield of Granton.

She was preceded in death by her father, Wayne Conner.

In lieu of flowers, the family will direct memorials to Marietta's causes, especially research for inflammatory breast cancer.

Friends may offer condolences online at www.fullerspeckien.com.

Fuller Speckien Hulke Funeral Home, 3209 Rudolph Road, Eau Claire, Wis., is assisting the family with the arrangements.