Marcia Schumacher

There will be a private family service for Marcia Schumacher, age 86 of Lake Park. A public visitation for Marcia will be held Saturday, September 12, 2026, from 2:00-4:00 PM at First Presbyterian Church in Lake Park.

Marcia Mae (Petersen) Schumacher was born to Christ and Helen (Blom) Petersen on August 12, 1940, on a farm in Lincoln Township near Dolliver, Iowa. She was the oldest of six siblings, and she helped her mother care for the younger children for many years.

Marcia was smart and studious and she really loved school. She graduated Valedictorian of her class at Superior High School in 1958. She went on to Estherville Junior College and earned her degree in Elementary Education in 1960. She married Art Schumacher that same year and started her remarkable teaching career in Ringsted, Iowa. She taught at Ringsted, Cylinder, and then Sheffield for several years until the couple moved to Lake Park. She then started her Minnesota teaching career at Sioux Valley School. A few years later she began taking night courses at Mankato State University. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Mankato State University with a Master of Science in Education in 1973. She then became Elementary Principal of Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster Schools for many years. In 1982, she attended summer school at Northern State College in Aberdeen and earned her Administrative Specialist Certificate, thus completing her six-year Administrative Degree. A few years later they offered Marcia the position of School Superintendent, which she excelled at for several years until her retirement in 2002. Marcia has worked in the Minnesota education system for forty years and had taught school in Iowa for seven years.

After her retirement she worked part-time at Dollar General of Spirit Lake for six and a half years, and she spent lots of time with her grandchildren. She also served on many committees over the years and remained very active in her Church and her community. Marcia loved living in Lake Park. She also loved her family, chocolate, shopping, ice cream cruises, short vacations, her soap operas, “Everybody Loves Raymond”, and a few other old sitcoms.

She was a loving wife to Art, who was “a devoted husband for 66 years”. She was a kind, generous, hardworking Christian lady, a caring Mother, and the best Nana in the whole wide world. “We love our family, and we have a wonderful family,” is something she would often say. Family was very important to Marcia.

Marcia passed away peacefully just after midnight on September 1st, 2026, following a brief battle with cancer. Left to cherish her memory are her husband Art, their son Lee and his wife Darci, their daughter Lynette, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, several nieces, nephews, and cousins, and four of her siblings, Jack, Jim, Susie, and Lee.

Marcia would often to say to us, “Have whatever you want,” though what we really want is to have Marcia still here with us. May she rest in peace.