Margaret Verlautz

After a long and full life, Margaret Rounds Verlautz succumbed to old age on March 11, 2023, and reunited with her husband, Jim. She was born February 10, 1926 to Lt Col Cyrus and Arcola Rounds, in Kirksville Mo., where her father was an osteopathic doctor. Shortly thereafter the family relocated, eventually landing in Owatonna MN and then Fairmont MN. The Great Depression was a terrible struggle for her family—getting enough food was always a problem and sometimes they went without. However libraries were free, and her father found a piano teacher that would teach her in exchange for medical care, and those difficult years produced the loves of learning and music that would be hallmarks of her entire life.

Her father was called to active duty after Pearl Harbor, and the family moved to Fort Snelling, MN. They lived in the Old Fort—what is now the National Historic Monument. Margaret may have been the last person alive who lived in the Old Fort. While there, she attended and graduated from Washburn High.

After a year of college, she and her mother moved to Germany for three years, where her father continued to be stationed after the end of World War II. While there, she was appointed director of the US Army budget offices in Frankfurt and Heidelberg. Earnings from that job gave her the opportunity to visit much of Western Europe during those years and learn some German and French.

Two years after returning home, she graduated with distinction from the University of Minnesota School of Business, where she was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority and sang in the Minnesota Chorus. She then married Sidney James Verlautz, a US Army officer, and spent the next 35 years accompanying him at his various tours of duty around the world and making all the moves as easy as possible for her children. When she became bored, she would accept part-time positions as a librarian or a church secretary. After her husband’s death, she eventually moved back to Minnesota, enjoying the last 19 years of her life with her friends at Boutwells Landing, the last two in the loving care of the wonderful staff at Gables Care Center.

In addition to her husband and parents, her brother and sister-in-law James B and Elizabeth Rounds and sister-in-law Beverly Kline along with husband William predeceased her.   Her children James F (Michelene) Verlautz and John J (Lori) Verlautz, grandchildren Stephanie (Craig) Moscetti, Andrew Verlautz, James (Katlin) Verlautz, and Steven Verlautz, and four great-grandchildren, James Walter, Aria Bernice, Margaret Grace, and Cecelia James, all survive her. She also had many cousins, nieces, and nephews, along with great- and great-great-nieces and nephews, who were very important to her and enriched her life.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Chapel at Boutwells Landing in Oak Park Heights on March 23 at 11am with visitation an hour prior. Private interment at Ft Snelling National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials are encouraged to the Erle and Alice Porter Rounds Scholarship Fund at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. https://connect.uwec.edu/donate ( 715-836-5630 )