Beth Madden

Beth Ellen Madden, age 94 of St. Ansgar, IA, died Sunday, October 9, 2022, surrounded by her family at home. A private family service will be held Saturday, October 15, 2022 at Hugeback - Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory - Olsen Chapel in Nashua. Interment will be held at Greenwood Cemetery, Nashua with Brian Madden, Derek Madden, Cody Madden, Mike Dillard, Doug Tesch, and Jason Tesch serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers are Eric Tesch, Cory Tesch, Tony Dillard, and Keith Madden. Beth Ellen Madden was born on December 17, 1927, and was the only child of John and Zatha (Caswell) Mellman. She grew up in Nashua and was a member of the Class of 1946 at Nashua High School. After graduating, she attended cosmetology school in Waterloo, where she also received training as a CNA while working at a hospital. She spent much of her career as a CNA at a number of hospitals in northeast Iowa and worked for a number of years at the hospital in Osage. She met Ervin Mellman at a dance, and the two hit it off almost immediately and the two were married on April 4, 1954, at the Little Brown Church in Nashua. Ervin had two daughters Becky and Sharon, and the couple had four children of their own — Gail, Cynthia, Calvin and Blair. Beth loved to crochet and tat and spent countless hours on her projects. She also was an expert canner and, as she put it, “watching her birds.” Beth would sit outside and it was rare - if ever - that she couldn’t come up with the species of birds that flew by her home. She was the proud grandmother to 14 grandchildren and several greats. Beth is survived by her daughter, Gail Schorg of St. Ansgar; two step-daughters, Becky Sylver of Osage, and Sharon Fariss of California; and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Ervin; and three children, Cynthia, Calvin and Blair.