Born December 11, 1927 in Speierling, Czechoslovakia, Marianne came into this world on a farm 16 years before World War II, in what was then called Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, to a wheat farmer and his wife, as the youngest of four children.

She quickly became her father's favorite. She spent many hours working on her daily chores, milking the cows before school and tending the chickens and sheep after school with her siblings, Franz, Joseph (Pep), and Annie.

The trip to school was 5 miles each way on foot unless there was lots of snow, then their father would take them to school by a horse drawn sleigh. They also used to ride the one bike they had with 3 of them on it.

Her life on the farm came to an end when the Russians came with a truck to her high school and loaded up all the children to transport them to labor camps.

Along the way to the camp mom escaped by jumping off of the truck with 5 other girlfriends, with only 2 of them surviving. Mom received a bullet wound in the leg, and yet traveled by foot with her girlfriend, Sonny, through the Austrian Alps to Vienna.

She was such a survivor. Strong, resilient, persevering, loyal in the face of all odds. She was brave, very brave, from a young age, being separated from her parents at 16, never to see her mother alive again. She was, however, reunited with her father shortly before his death, and she found her brother Pep, and sister Annie with the help of the Red Cross 7 years after arriving in Germany.

Mom subsequently made her way to Garmich-Bertchesgarten to find neighbors from her homeland who invited her there to be employed as a bar maid. She had a son, Peter, by a local Baron, who died shortly after his birth and a few years later, when Peter was 8, mom met her handsome American soldier, Ralph Francis Tibbetts.

They married after Dad got permission from mom's brother Pep, and in 1957 Ralph Jr. was born. We left for the United States a year later to arrive in Spokane, Washington, where Dagma ("I") was born in 1959. Dad was stationed at Geiger Field until 1961 when we left for Weisbaden, Germany and Rebecca was born in December of that year. We lived in a little village called Wingsbach. They had a parade each year, which Dad participated in, by playing the clarinet.

We then left for Denver, Colorado in 1964 and our little brother Benjamin was born in February of 1965. Shortly after Ben was born dad was shipped out to Pu Kat, Vietnam. I remember we used to make care packages for Dad that included lots of goodies, toiletries, and reel to reel tapes, with all of us speaking to him. He would then send tapes to us, that we loved listening to over and over again.

Mom took in ironing to make extra money to help us survive while dad was gone. I remember seeing clothes in the refrigerator, my mother sprinkling them with water to make the ironing easier. I also remember seeing clothes hanging on the line that froze solid, including Ledder Hosen, stiff as a board.

When dad came home from Vietnam we were transferred back to Germany, no baby this time! We lived in the little German villages Miesau and Brochmuhlbach for the next 7 years, becoming part of the village life with our bilingual mother. Each year there was a parade which Dad participated in, playing the clarinet.

We often visited our family in Bavaria, outside of Munchen, in Ottobrunn.

Our next transfer was to Great Falls, Montana in 1972. Our last year of being an Air Force family.

We arrived in Spokane in June of 1973 just before the Worlds Fair in 1974. Mom and Dad decided to retire in Spokane because it reminded them of Germany. There was a strong German-American Society at that time that they quickly became a part of, and enjoyed for many years to come.

Mom secured a job almost immediately as head housekeeper of the Holiday Inn downtown. She started as a maid and moved up to head housekeeper with barely any English writing skills. I remember Dad writing out the spelling of numbers for mom so she could take her cheat sheet to work and not let anyone know of her inability to write English. She was always so proud of her AAA superior rating for the cleanliness of her rooms.

I remember Kathy and I were maids for mom and it was some of the hardest work we have ever done. We definitely learned to clean.

Mom worked hard all her life, lovingly tending to her children's care while taking in ironing, running a day care in our home for "13" children, and then working at Fairchild bowling alley in the evenings, and Holiday Inn during the day.

Mom loved her life in Spokane with her German friends, some of which were Irma, Jutta, Anita, Edith, Bernadette, and Katie, Suszi, Margaret and her beloved annual trips to Canada with the Arion Choir. She loved dancing, and was on the dance floor at any opportunity, dancing in the wild costumes she wore for Fasching, or in her beautiful Dirndles.

Mom also loved Hawaii. It was such a healing, peaceful place, where she felt happy and free. She enjoyed the exercise classes on the beach and especially walking along the beach, barefoot, letting the sand wiggle between her toes.

She would bring us back Hawaiian gifts in her desire to share the beauty and peace she felt while there.

Mom also enjoyed more than anything her connection with her children and grandchildren. Dad used to say he was moving away from his children and grandchildren so he could have his wife back! Mom said she would never leave.


As the years went by Dad started taking Mom out for brunch on Sundays, and Mom would inevitably stick away in her purse extra treats from her plate and bring them to the grandchildren on their way home. Dad was beside himself and threatened to stop taking her out for breakfast if continued! She continued and they continued to go out for brunch on Sundays. That was kind of how it was, Mutti had the last say in things, one way or another!

Dad left us in 1992 . He was mom's rock, and she missed him terribly, and never really got over the empty place he left in her life. Mom enjoyed traveling and traveled to Thailand by herself at 70 to visit her son Peter, and also had many trips to Hawaii with her girlfriends, a visit to Turkey, and several trips to Germany to visit her family.

Mom had a way with flowers and gardening tending so lovingly to her plants surrounding her front porch and yard. No surprise that we are all gardeners with our own flowers and amazing gardens blooming!

There was always something delicious cooking on the stove and we were always welcome . Her cookie jar was always full! Baking German Christmas cookies and Stohlen became an annual tradition with everyone gathering at Mutti's for the special time together.

Mom loved taking long walks in the neighborhood, waving and socializing with all the neighbors as she walked, with a big, beautiful, smile on her face. They all loved her friendliness or "Gemutlichkeit" as they say in German. Her smile lives on in our hearts forever. Du bist mit uns im Herzen immer, Unsere Liebe Mutti.

Marianne is survived by her 5 children, 11 grandchildren, and 12 great grandchildren and will be greatly missed.

She is now with her loving husband, our father, Ralph Francis Tibbetts. May they rest in peace and love and dance the night away!

Great Grandparents ~ Oma & Opa Pinska

Father ~ Johan Hans Worschech
Mother ~ Teresa Worschech

Brothers: Joseph "Zep" Worschech ~ Franz Joseph Worschech
Sister: Annie Walter

Husband: Ralph Francis Tibbetts

Children: Arthur (Peter) Earl Jane Baron Frieherr von Junker von Bigato ~ Ralph George Tibbetts ~ Dagma Beth Lacey ~ Rebecca Anna Oestrich ~ Benjamin Peter Tibbetts

Grandchildren: Robert Hunton, Jr. ~ Nicholas Andrieux Hunton ~ Joseph Benjamin Hunton ~ Jacob Louis Hunton ~ Jessica Leigh Hunton ~ Angela Louise Kelley, Emily AnnaMarie Anderson ~ Heidi Elizabeth LaRue ~ Ryan Paxton Tibbetts ~ Linnea Anne Tibbetts ~ Lindsey Avanelle Tibbetts

Great Grandchildren: Kiera Marie Coon ~ Nathaniel Jacob Hunton ~ Kailyn Michelle Hunton ~Taylor Danielle Hunton ~ Sage Noel Hunton ~ Ethan Nicholas Hunton ~ and Nicoya Ibsen ~ Emma Beth LaRue ~ Haley Grace LaRue ~ Wyatt Grigsby Kelly ~ Evelyn Louise Kelly ~ Bailey Marie Anderson

 

Additional pictures of Marianne's family have been placed here.

The background of Marianna's Peace Heriloom Tomato
"The World's Best Tasting Tomato"



Marianna's Peace Heirloom Tomato

The seeds were sent to me by one of Marianna's children. They came to me with the following story. Marianna's family were farmers from Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. During World War II, on a day in May of 1945, the Russians came to her school and loaded Marianna and all her schoolmates into a truck to be taken to Siberia. Marianna was 17 years old. During the journey, Marianna and a few others escaped by jumping from the moving truck. As she crossed the Czech border she was shot in the leg but with the help of her friends was able to continue on to the town of Weiden in Bavaria. She lost all contact with her parents and brothers for the next ten years but through years of diligent searching and the aid of The Red Cross she found them in 1955. The name, Marianna's Peace, and some tomato seeds, were gifts from her father before he died. She married, and in 1957 moved to Washington with her husband where they raised four children.

The family wasn't able to provide any history of the tomato's breeding or origin, only that the seeds from this heirloom reached back to the early 1900's and, year after year, the tomatoes borne from these seeds were treasured for their outstanding taste and beauty.

Marianna's Peace is a late season, indeterminate, potato-leaf variety (80-85 days) that produces relatively lower yields of 1-2 lb., pink/red, beefsteak-styled fruit. It's plant and fruit structure and the taste of it's fruit remind me of an old favorite, Brandywine. The sugary nectar of it's creamy, dense, flesh also reminds me of Sandul Moldovan, another great tasting variety originally from Moldova. Overall, it's flavors are exceptionally rich, with good sweet/acid balance and luscious complex flavors reminiscent of the finest of those "old-fashioned" tomato flavors, the memories of which is the stuff-of-dreams for all tomato lovers. In my taste trials with friends and chefs in 1999, "Marianna's Peace" was judged the "best tasting" tomato.

Additional pictures of Marianne's family have been placed here.