Funeral services for Cortez resident Marion Ruth Sperling will be held at 1:30 PM on Saturday, May 30 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cortez, Colorado.

Marion was born on May 3, 1935, in New Ulm, Minnesota, to Howard Adolph Glaesemann and Laura Henrietta (Uhlig) Glaesemann. She went to heaven on Thursday, April 16, 2026, in Cortez, two weeks shy of her 91st birthday. She grew up in New Ulm and attended Lutheran schools there. On June 22, 1953, she married her neighbor, John Sperling, and followed him to North Carolina when he was drafted into the US Army. Their son David was born there. After John was discharged in 1956, the family moved back to New Ulm and then, in June, 1957, to Highland, Illinois, where John was employed and where their daughter Carol was born. Marion’s parents taught her to love Jesus, and to enjoy and practice sewing, gardening and reading. She followed those interests throughout her life.

As a young wife and mother, she was active in her Lutheran church community and at the school her children attended. Later, she first volunteered and then worked at the local historical museum in Edwardsville, Illinois, where the family had moved in 1961. In 2010, she retired as the Research Librarian there. In September, 2016, she and John moved to Cortez, Colorado. Marion lived with dementia and Alzheimer's Disease for the last years of her life. Although it stole almost everything from her, she never surrendered her love for her family or for her Lord Jesus. Marion was a smart, strong-minded, Christian woman who is missed every day by her family and friends.

Marion is survived by her husband, John Sperling, her son David Sperling (Debbie), and her daughter Carol Sperling (Bill), all of Cortez, Colorado, and by 6 grandchildren and their families.

Marion was preceded in death by her parents and by her brother Eugene Glaesemann.

Memorial donations in lieu of flowers gratefully received, and may be made to:

Trinity Lutheran Pre-School, P.O. Box 989, Cortez, CO 81321, or to

Lutheran Women's Missionary League, Trinity Lutheran Church, 208 N. Dolores, Cortez, CO 81321.