Marcella Ida Block, 96, of Seneca, Kansas died on Sunday, February 2, 2014 at Crestview Nursing & Residential Living.

Marcella was born on January 31, 1918 to Joseph and Mary Volkmer Gergen in Shickley, Nebraska. She attended Turkey Creek School, graduating from the 8th Grade. As a young woman, she was worked for neighboring families cleaning their homes. When World War II broke she and her sister moved to Santa Monica, California to work for Southwestern Bell. She later returned to Lincoln, Nebraska to care for her dying mother.

On September 16, 1954 she married Francis J. “Fritz” Block at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Geneva, Nebraska. The couple made their home on the Block family farm south of Seneca until July of 1991, when they retired and moved into Seneca. The couple celebrated 40 years of marriage before Francis’s death on July 27, 1995. Marcella had made Crestview her home in 2008, after a stoke left her unable to live at home alone.

She was a member of Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Seneca, St. Ann’s Altar Society and she volunteered at the Mission Center. She was also a member of the QAF Club. She enjoyed playing cards, embroidering, planting a vegetable garden and tending to her flowers.

Besides her parents and husband she was preceded in death by siblings, Wilfred Gergen, Alfred Gergen, Leona Schwabauer, Marie Garritson and Bertha Weyand.

Marcella is survived by her children, Stan Block, Mary Jane Hunninghake and Ray Block all of Seneca; a sister, Maxine Lowery of Hastings, Nebraska; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A rosary will be prayed at 6 PM on Wednesday, February 5, 2014 at Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11AM Thursday, at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca. Burial will be at Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Cemetery in Seneca.

Memorials may be given for the Sts. Peter & Paul School.