Marita M. Mastrofski
September 4, 1924 - June 5, 2016

Marita M. Mastrofski, 91, of Indianola and formerly West Des Moines, IA, died June 5, 2016 at Westview Care Center, Indianola. Memorial services will be on Sunday, June 25, 2017 at Annett Nature Center, South of Indianola. Times will be determined and announced soon.



Born September 4, 1924 in Knoxville, she was the third of twelve children of Benjamin and Nellie Gholson. She married Jack Mastrofski, an exotic young artist from Des Moines, at her parents home in Knoxville, IA on October 8, 1944.

Growing up in the Gholson household, Marita was immersed in family, not only the growing number of siblings, but during visits to and from grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Her fathers many business and political associates and their families were frequent visitors, and those visits became valuable educational experiences, as she learned to play poker and pinochle from some of Knoxvilles best card players. This no doubt sharpened her math skills, preparing her for her lifelong career as a tax accountant. And Marita displayed the breadth of her business acumen at an early age, making a deal with a neighbor boy to swap a squirrel skin for his boots. The family never resolved the mystery of how she came to have the squirrel skin. At a fairly early age Marita shouldered responsibilities in assisting her parents around the house, but the responsible streak in her character did not diminish her exuberance. When her only brother was born, she exasperated her older sister, Jauson, by posting a prominent notice on the front door: Baby boy at our house! Jauson was certain that this would keep potential boyfriends from calling.



In high school Marita enjoyed playing the piano, singing, writing, and acting. She excelled academically, and she appeared in high school productions, performed in vocal groups, and edited the school newspaper. She especially enjoyed palling around with her classmates and lifelong friends, JoAn Monroe and Evelyn Jenkins. After she graduated in 1942 she attended Drake University. Just before classes began it was not clear that there would be sufficient funds to cover tuition, but her father sold a large load of hay, and the university was willing to wait awhile for the balance due. At Drake she began as a journalism major, but once she took a course from drama professor and founder of the Drake University Theatre, James Fiderlick, she was inspired with his excellence, passion, and humanity and was completely committed to theatre.



While attending Drake she also worked at a munitions factory in Ankeny, where she met her husband-to-be, Jack. The first time he saw Marita on the 50-calibre assembly line, Jack reported he knew he wanted to get to know that smart, red-headed beauty, and after he arranged that, he knew hed met the girl of his dreams. He pursued her with passion and diligence, even to the point of seeking sympathy by telling her that he lived with a mean and wicked step mother. When Marita met Jacks mother and viewed the wonderful dinner she had lovingly prepared, she saw through the fib immediately, beginning a long, devoted relationship with his family.

When Jack proposed marriage, Marita insisted that he secure the blessings of her parents. After the wedding, the couple took the train to New York City. En route in coach class, a young boy in the adjacent seat announced to the entire car what the couple was unpacking from the nuptial night picnic basket prepared lovingly by Nellie. Now theyre having fried chicken! Heres the slaw! And here comes the apple pie!

During their year in the city, living in a small flat in Chelsea, Jack attended art school on a scholarship, and Marita found work as a model for painters and photographers, posing for Moses and Raphael Soyer, among others. While in the Big Apple, they met a variety of artists, writers, and performers, including Anais Niin. They later moved to a little artist colony near Woodstock, NY. When they left, they sublet the cabin to the writer, Jimmy Baldwin. In 1947 they returned to Iowa so that Marita could help her father with his tax business and deliver their first child.



At first Marita and Jack lived in Knoxville, but after a few years they moved to Des Moines, where Jack attended Drake part time, worked at an airplane factory full time, and Marita tended their three children and continued doing tax work in Knoxville during the tax season. After the family moved to an acreage near West Des Moines (known in Maritas high school days as the hoodlum train town, Valley Junction), she began to become active in summer alumni theatre at Drake University and later community theatre at the Des Moines Drama Workshop, the Playhouse, and Grandview College. Between the 1950s and 2007 she appeared in more than two dozen plays, often in the lead role. Among these were Summer and Smoke, Anastasia, The Ladys Not for Burning, The Innocents, Romeo and Juliet, Night of the Iguana, The Little Foxes, The Maids, The Glass Menagerie, and The Crucible. She received special recognition and plaudits for her portrayal of Eleanor of Aquitane in The Lion in Winter. She had great range, such as Tennessee Williams self-delusional Amanda, Juliets lusty Nurse, the regal Eleanor, the mysterious Anastasia, or the mystified Miss Giddens. In her last performance (Song of Survival) at the Drama Workshop she portrayed a woman in her final days, but even as late as 2007 she was doing Readers Theatre with her good friend Charles Dickson and grandson, Daniel.

During this period she served on the board of the Drama Workshop in the roles of president and treasurer, as well as producing many plays. After Professor Fiderlicks death, she worked closely with other former students to create and grow the Drake Theatre Fiderlick Scholarship Fund to honor Professor by making available funds to promising theatre students. In college she also joined Zeta Phi Eta, a professional communications fraternity and was an active member throughout her life. She enjoyed working with many friends in this organization to advance theatre and communications.



In the late 1950s Marita opened her own tax business at her home in West Des Moines. Her clients proclaimed that they enjoyed doing their taxes, because it gave them a chance to spend time with Marita, who greeted them with endless thermoses of coffee, snacks and desserts to munch on, and extended conversation about the goings-on in their lives. Marita not only did their taxes, but she listened to their stories, showing authentic care and concern for them. And she knew her stuff. Not once did IRS auditors find anything that required correction in the returns she filed for her clients. She maintained this business until her late 80s, calculating all of the returns the same way she had learned as a girl in her fathers tax office, using an adding machine and tax tables. Her strong work ethic and perseverance kept her up late many nights, but she was always willing to drop what she was doing to visit with family or friends who might drop by unannounced.

Although Marita was committed to theatre and her tax work, towering above all else, was her love and dedication to family and friends. With Jack she welcomed them at any time, whether for a meal, a nights lodging or a stay of several years. Maritas mother, Nellie, lived joyously with them for three decades. Friends and friends of friends stopped by. They came, not only to socialize, but for advice and help, which she gave readily and in abundance. People of all ages, lifestyles, and political persuasions were at ease, often taking the occasion to argue the controversial issues of the time. Marita enjoyed fixing her favorite dishes for family get-togethers, which would include vegetables and fruits from the family garden, fresh or canned. Many will remember with fondness macaroni and cheese, beet borscht, salmon patties, fried chicken, and chocolate cake baked on the stove in a frying pan. Not to forget crisp dill pickles pickled just the way her mother in law taught her. At her special Christmas breakfast a dear neighbor routinely joined the family every year as part of his holiday ritual, enjoying her wet pancakes and immersing himself in the excitement and good feelings of the holiday season.



Marita wielded power in her family. Its origins were not formal, nor did it come from her material possessions, which were modest. Rather she exercised power that came from consent granted because people saw the value in her wisdom and the authenticity of her commitment to their welfare. Above all, she strove to be fair. She began with a great capacity for tolerance of accepting people for who they are, a gift given and nurtured by her mother.

Marita and Jack had very different personalities, but their marriage was marked with deep love, tolerance, and mutual respect. Aside from enjoying family and friends, they fully enjoyed theatre, art museums, dance, opera, musicals, and concerts. Maritas love of performing arts, inherited from her father, nurtured a similar love in her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. They came to appreciate it by at first performing at family occasions, Christmas, Halloween, family reunions, and just when the spirit moved. She and Jack encouraged family and friends to get involved in the arts and took great pride in their accomplishments.



Marita was predeceased in 2015 by her husband of 70 years, Jack. Marita is survived by four sisters: Adrienna Clark, Sally Garfield, Susan Gholson, and Michaeleen Parks. Surviving children and spouses are: Stephen Mastrofski and his wife Jennifer, Robin Vanderhoef and her husband Russell, and Aaron Mastrofski. Also surviving are five grandchildren: Melissa Ferguson, Danielle Vanderhoef, Amelia Ruiz, Daniel Mastrofski, and Eric Mastrofski. Surviving also are her 9 great grandchildren: Oscar Ferguson-Osborne, Paige Yanny, Amari Mastrofski, Jalen Harris, Iliana Ruiz, Annabel Vanderhoef, Kian Ruiz, Bryson Mastrofski, and Cameron Mastrofski. In addition, she is survived by sisters/brothers-in-law, Burton and Sandy Mastrofski, Lewis Clark, Hank Gholson, and Jim Schoonover. Among surviving family are many, many nieces, nephews and grand nieces and nephews.



Marita was predeceased by her siblings: Jauson Streeter, Clover Gholson, Jalene Wilson, Cherri Pitcher, Harrison Gholson, Francesanne Fountain, and Molly Schoonover. She was predeceased by in laws: Diane Arden-Vogel, Bill Vogel, Dale Streeter, Harold Wilson, Wesley Arden, William Pitcher, Barbara Mastrofski, Bruce Fountain, Bill Banks, Dale Convey, and Bill Parks.



Throughout her life, Marita drew strength from the love, support, and inspiration she received from others, and she tried very hard to give it back to them and to the many communities in which she was involved. The loving care of many family members and friends made it possible for her to remain at her home and prosper in spirit, even as her health was declining. Westviews staff provided attentive care and support during her last two years.

Maritas departure from this life was a peaceful and seemingly painless end to her lifes journey. In the preceding days and weeks she enjoyed a constant stream of family and friends visiting and phoning her, taking her to the facilitys pleasant library or out to Westviews lovely gazebo. The day before her death her daughter and a granddaughter enjoyed a light lunch and warm conversation with her before she expressed a desire to rest. She lay down for a nap and fell into a deep sleep from which she never awakened. As she slept, she was visited by many family members. They held her hand, read her great literature, sang favorite songs, and reminisced. Some spoke to her by a phone held to her ear. It was a tender and loving departure. With Robin and niece Laura by her side, Marita made her final exit.

We will miss Maritas wisdom, warmth, generosity, creativity, sense of humor, talents, and unconditional love. She parted this life peacefully, surrounded by her beloved family. Those who knew her are better people for that and carry with them the gift of Maritas spirit.

And the gift of that spirit is not grandiose, but it is grand. She didnt give by proselytizing, but by doing. Margaret Mead may have said it best: Never believe that a few caring people cant change the world. For, indeed, thats all who ever have.

Private burial of cremains will be at Resthaven Cemetery, West Des Moines, arranged by Celebrate Life Iowa. A celebration of life event will be held at a later date and announced at this web site. Memorial contributions may be made in Maritas name to the Drake The James J. Fiderlick Memorial Scholarship, Repertory Theatre of Iowa (rtiowa.com) or Stage West (stagewestiowa.com).

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