Martha I. Petrick

Martha Irene Hinrichs Petrick, 85, of Mount Vernon, died Thursday, July 21, 2005 in Hallmark Care and Rehabilitation Center, Mount Vernon from advanced multiple myeloma. Services for Martha are 7:00 p.m., Monday by Chaplain Catherine Quehl-Engel at the Morgan Funeral and Cremation Choices Mount Vernon Chapel. The family will greet friends from 5:00 p.m. until service time Monday in the chapel. Burial Mount Vernon Memorial Cemetery at a later date. Surviving Martha is a daughter Sheridan Edmund, and a son Michael both of Mount Vernon; two grandchildren Bill Strauss of Dubuque, and Deborah Strauss of Mount Vernon; two great grandchildren Ryan and Maddie; a sister Betty Husman of Las Vegas, Nevada; and many nieces and nephews. Preceding Martha in death were her parents, husband, a son James, two brothers, and two sisters. Martha was born July 7, 1920, in Onslow, the daughter of George and Emma Schrader Hinrichs. She graduated Valedictorian from Onslow High School. After graduation she worked at the Anamosa Shirt Factory until her marriage to William Gillam in 1942. Their daughter Sheridan was born, and the couple were later divorced. Martha married Edward Petrick in 1944. Sons James and Michael rounded out this Mount Vernon family. During their early life together, Martha did many things to help her husband support the family including taking in laundry/ironing, custom seamstress work for family and members of the community, and later working full time for Armstrong's Department Store in Cedar Rapids as a seamstress, and selling Avon products to her Mount Vernon clients. After leaving Armstrong's, she worked and retired from SAGA Foods at Cornell College. Even though retired, she still worked part time for Allied Graphics' and J & A Printing's mail shops. Martha's family and friends will remember her extraordinary creative talents. To mention a few, hand tooling leather items, hand engraving ornamental metal tableware pieces, custom designed and hand crafted quilts, and oil painting. Summers without her potato and macaroni salads are hard to imagine. Holidays without her cranberry salad will never be the same. And the rice pudding bowl will remain forever empty. During the past four years, and in declining health, Martha's courage, acceptance, and patience to move forward in life should be an example to us all. Her unwavering devotion to family and friends will be deeply missed by us all. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund in Martha's name has been established.