Waterhouse, Maurine (Tootie) Bicknell Vargason

Maurine (Tootie) L. Bicknell Vargason Waterhouse, 89, formerly of Central City, died Sunday, May 9, 2010, at St. Luke's Hospital, Cedar Rapids. Services: 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Murdoch Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Central City, by the Rev. Mark Woldruff. The family will greet friends from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Burial: Coggon Cemetery, Coggon, Iowa.

Survivors include her sisters and sisters-in-law, her brother-in-law and their families: Clarice (Conrad) Carriere of Morton, Ill., Beverly (Donald) Seidlitz of Silvis, Ill., Mary Lou (Keith) Bicknell of Moline, Ill., Dorothy Waterhouse Kratzer of Littleton, Colo., Ada Waterhouse Olmsted of Cedar Rapids, Barbara (Don) Waterhouse Miller of Hiawatha, Richard and Willie Waterhouse of Coggon; plus many nieces, nephew, and cousins.

Also left in Maurine's memory are Wesley's children and families, Irene (Bob) Lary of Muscatine, Doris (DJ) Nordstrom of Central City, Diane (Frank) Waterhouse of Shafter, Calif., Bonnie (Tom) Lingnofski of Menasha, Wis., Marvin (Barbara) Waterhouse of Manchester, and John Waterhouse of Iowa City.

Also honoring Maurine's memory is her special family of Richard and Karen Vanourney of Central City, and their children and grandchildren, who were not only Maurine and Wesley's caregivers, but became very special friends over the past nine years. They were special angels and devoted countless hours to both Wesley and Maurine, not out of duty, but rather out of true love and affection.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husbands; and her brother, Keith Bicknell.

Maurine was born Feb. 5, 1921, the daughter of Arthur and Gladys (Hughes) Bicknell, in Moline, Ill. She graduated with the class of 1940 at Moline High School and attended Moline Public Hospital School of Nursing. She was employed by Eagle Signal Corp in Moline, Ill. On Feb. 13, 1946, Maurine married Arnold Vargason of Oelwein, who preceded her in death on Sept. 24, 1965. While living in Oelwein, she was employed by DIPPO Jewelry Store. While living in Sarasota, Fla., in the 1950s, she was a buyer of ladies sportswear for J.C. Penney and moved to Marion and was employed by Collins Radio.

Maurine married William Wesley Waterhouse on June 1, 1969, in the Ozarks of Missouri. He died Dec. 12, 2002.

For the past eight months, Maurine resided at Summit Pointe Senior Living Center in Marion. While only there a short period of time, there were many friendships made with the staff and residents and it became her home away from home in many special ways.

A memorial fund has been established in Maurine's memory.

Please sign the online guest book for Maurine at under obituaries.