Rebecca Walch

Surrounded by her loved ones, Rebecca Ann Walch of Zumbrota, Minnesota died on Thursday, March
10, 2011. Rebecca will be remembered as a woman who lived for her family and created beauty in the
simplest of things.
Rebecca was born during The Depression Years to Elmer and Maude Wirt in Lewiston, a small farming
community in southeastern Minnesota, on August 12th, 1935. The youngest of three children, she
worked alongside her sister, Mary, and her brother, Russell, as well as her parents on the farm.
While attending Lewiston High School, Rebecca met John Walch, a handsome young man with a knack
for making her smile. They dated during high school and continued their courtship while they both
attended the University of Minnesota, where Rebecca studied Home Economics. In the warmth of a
midwestern summer and surrounded by family and friends, the couple wed on July 26, 1958. After
college graduation, Rebecca taught Home Economics at Pine Island High School, Hopkins High School,
and University High School. Rebecca loved teaching. She was passionate about educating young people
in what she believed were truly useful skills in life: how to care for others, handle finances, tend homes,
negotiate relationships and more.
Rebecca's role as a mother began in 1959, when she gave birth to her son, Philip. During that time
Rebecca balanced motherhood and a teaching career, as well as supporting her husband while he
finished college. Four years later, the family moved to Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, where her husband,
John, took his first position as a Veterinarian. As part of the move from St. Paul to Blooming Prairie,
Rebecca left her teaching career and gave birth to her three daughters Sara, Diana and Johanna.
While living in Blooming Prairie, Rebecca enjoyed the company of many dear friends and volunteered
much of her time and talent to local churches and organizations. She gave of herself endlessly and with
great heart. A true artist and life-long learner, Rebecca filled her days with sewing, knitting, crocheting,
weaving, drawing, painting, ceramics, jewelry making, cooking, baking, floral design and her great love
of gardening.
In the mid-1980's Rebecca returned to teaching at Blooming Prairie High School and Kasson-Mantorville
High School, where she discovered great changes in education compared to her experiences twenty
years earlier. She was challenged to adapt her Home Economics curriculum to address a student body
that was quickly utilizing huge advancements in technology and a society that had grown radically
different from the late 1950's and early 60's. After several years of teaching, she embraced retirement
and returned to her artistic endeavors, her gardens and, favorite of all, her grandchildren.

In 2000, Rebecca and John moved from Blooming Prairie to Zumbrota, Minnesota. Rebecca's time in
Zumbrota was spent celebrating life with family, arts and crafts, gardening, volunteering at St. Paul's
Catholic Church and participating in Catholic Daughters.
Rebecca is survived by her husband, John Walch; her children, Philip (Nora) Walch of Rochester, Sara Walch of White Bear Township, Diana (Jay) Smith of Stillwater and Johanna (David) Brandvik of Altadena, CA,; her grandchildren, Meghan (Sultan) Mirzoyev, Teresa Walch, Abby Walch, Ellie Walch, Aron Mozes, Gergely Mozes, Kinga Mozes, Luca Mozes, Hannah Smith, Noah Smith, Kate Smith, Freya Brandvik and Esme Brandvik; brother, Russell (Donna) Wirt and sister, Mary (Roman) Walch.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday, March 15, 2001 at 11:00 AM at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Zumbrota with Father Frank Wampach officiating. Visitation will be on Tuesday from 9:30 to 11:00 AM at the church.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to Assisi Heights (1001-14th St. NW, Rochester, MN 55901), Seasons Hospice, (1811 Greenview Place SW, Suite 110, Rochester, MN 55902 or Rebecca Walch's Memorial for Melanoma Research at the Mayo Clinic (200-1st St. SW, Rochester, MN 55905).

Those who knew Rebecca will continue to be inspired by her simple grace and her fierce loyalty to those
she loved. Her family and friends will take heart this spring when her gardens once again bloom with
life. "This flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air, dispels with glorious splendor the
darkness everywhere." - translation, Theodore Baker, 1894, "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming"