Aid giver devoted to those who needed help

1/6/2005

TIFFIN - Marilyn Hossler, a former therapeutic program worker at Tiffin Developmental Center for 30 years, died of kidney failure Monday in Autumnwood Care Center. She was 69.

Mrs. Hossler helped people with mental disabilities with whatever needed to be done, her daughter, Suzette Hossler, said.

"She loved to work with people who needed help," Mrs. Hossler said.

She said her mother got to know the residents of the center during the decades she worked there.

She enjoyed spending time with them, especially taking them on outings.

Mrs. Hossler, a quiet woman who had been a stay-at-home mother, began working at the center when her youngest child was in fifth grade and retired seven years ago, her daughter said.

Mrs. Hossler was born Sept. 16, 1935, in Seneca County's Hopewell Township to Morris and Pauline Thom and raised by her mother and stepfather, Charles Eckert. She graduated from Tiffin Calvert High School in 1952.

She married Charles Hossler in 1956. He died in 2002.

She crocheted everything from afghans to Christmas tree skirts. "Everyone's got a baby blanket," her daughter said.

Mrs. Hossler was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church here.

Surviving are her sons, Dan and Tim Hossler; daughters, Deb Morrow and Suzette Hossler; eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 1 p.m. today in St. Joseph Catholic Church. Hannay-Traunero Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

The family suggests tributes to the church or a charity of the donor's choice.