Marcella L. Kersting

Marcella L. Kersting, age 100, formerly of St. Charles, Missouri passed away on Saturday, June 10, 2023. She was born on January 10, 1923, in St. Charles, Missouri, the daughter of Vivan and Lydia Gage. She graduated from St. Charles High School, class of 1941. Marcella married the love of her life, Ralph Kersting, on June 17, 1950, at the St. Peter’s Catholic Church in St. Charles. She moved to Topeka, Kansas, in 2019 to be closer to members of her family.

She was a loving wife, sister, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother who enjoyed attending her children’s events and family gatherings. She was a wonderful homemaker, an excellent cook, and loved to bake and decorate cakes for her children’s birthdays and other special occasions. Every Christmas she would prepare large assortments of holiday cookies and candies that she would share with family, friends, and neighbors.

Marcella had a colorful life. After high school she worked with her mother at the shoe factory in St. Charles. When the war broke out, she followed her brother’s lead and enlisted in the Marine Corp. Then, rather than serving, she found her true passion at the Curtis-Wright airplane factory at Lambert Field, where she worked on the war plane assembly line installing wiring in the wings and fuselage of aircraft.

After the war, she met and married her husband Ralph and lovingly raised four children. Marcella was a homemaker who cooked, baked, and maintained the home, as well as a seamstress who sewed clothing for herself and her children. As she and Ralph raised their family, they dedicated much of their time to hosting family picnics, visiting relatives and friends, and taking their children to local sites like the Saint Louis Zoo, Grants Farm, and rides on the steamer Admiral. Always energetic, as her children grew up, Marcella took on several jobs, including her work at the local drugstore, and as a sales associate in a dress shop.

She is survived by her four children and their spouses, Steve (Noelle) Kersting, Earl (Deborah) Kersting, Joyce (Andy) Markiewicz, and Paul Kersting; seven grandchildren, Michael (Melissa), Christopher (Sophia), Elizabeth (Brian), Jennifer (Joseph), Timothy, Garrett, and Zachary along with ten great grandchildren: Ava, Alexander, Aubrey, Brianna, Charles, Jacob, Julia, Kendall, Lucas, and Valerie.

She was preceded in death by her parents Vivan and Lydia, her beloved brother Marvin, and her husband Ralph.

Memorial contributions may be made to The American Cancer Society or to The Humane Society of the United States.