Martha Dolezal

TOLEDO-Martha Helen Dolezal, 96, of Toledo, was born on March 31, 1928 on the Svoboda family farm in rural Clutier, Iowa, daughter of Charles and Mildred (Podhajsky) Svoboda. She passed away Saturday, August 24, 2024 at the Iowa River Hospice Home in Marshalltown. Martha was the oldest of seven children. She was the Tama County Spelling Bee champion in 8th grade and graduated from Toledo High School. On June 22, 1948, she was united in marriage to Charles J. Dolezal at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in rural Clutier and they shared sixty-seven years of wedded bliss.

Martha liked to help others. She was active in several organizations and wasn’t just a member of many of these but became an officer, including the St. Wenceslaus Church Circle and is currently a member of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Tama, Iowa. She also helped Charlie with the business and became known as “The Go-fer”.

Her hobbies included family gatherings with kolaches, dancing with Charlie, and playing cards (they were in a pinochle card club for almost fifty years). She loved working in her flower garden and always had a big vegetable garden, too. She liked to travel and two of her favorite trips were to visit the homelands of Jan Lothwall, an exchange student from Sweden, and the city where Charlie’s father was born in Chleny, Czechoslovakia.

Survivors include two daughters, Monica (Bob Berger) Dolezal of Urbandale and Trude (Ed) Moyer of Sun City Center, FL; grandchildren, Amy (Lee) Bowers and Michael (Savannah) Dolezal; step-grandchildren, Erica (Ryan Johnson) Moyer, Emily (Adam) Hoop, Marty (Stephanie) Hoglund, and Leah (Bill) Goins; five great-grandchildren, Aiden and Alexandra Bowers and JoJo, Charlee and Bren Dolezal; two daughters-in-law, Carolyn and Marcia; step-great grandchildren; and many more extended family members; brothers and sisters, Dorothy and Lawrence (both deceased) Hagerty, (Joe deceased) Carole Svoboda, Ludmilla (John deceased) Perkins, Bernard and Mary Svoboda, Laurence (Marlus deceased) Svoboda, John and Marilyn Svoboda.

Preceding her in death were her parents; her husband, Charles on December 19, 2015; two sons, Tom and Jeff Dolezal; one daughter, Kerri Lynn Dolezal; one daughter-in-law, Chris (Peterson) Dolezal; brothers-in-law, Ed Dolezal, Joe Stadler, and Frank Kubik. sisters-in-law, Christina Kubik, Millie Dolezal, Irene Svoboda; and several nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Friday, August 30, 2024 at 10:00 AM at the St. Patrick Catholic Church in Tama. Interment will follow at St. Wenceslaus Cemetery in rural Clutier. Visitation will be held Thursday, August 29, 2024 from 4-7 PM at Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home in Tama with a Vigil Service to follow at 7:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to one of the following: Cancer Research at www.cancerresearch.org; Arthritis Foundation at www.arthritis.org; or Alzheimer’s Foundation at www.alzfdn.org.