Marleen Oomens Kvalheim lived a full and spirited life until her recent unexpected passing on January 19, 2020. She was preceded in death by the love of her life, Robert Theodore, her husband of 32 years. She is survived by her three children Marleen, Erik and Dwayne, and seven grandchildren; Tyler, Mackenna, Christian, Amelia, Nicholas, Madison, and Riley.

A funeral service will be held at St. Richard's Episcopal Church 5151 Lake Howell Road, Winter Park FL 32792 on January 24, 2020, 1:00 pm.

The following was written by our mom, Marleen Oomens Kvalheim, and I wanted to share it with my friends and family. I take relief that she is in heaven now with my father, Robert, the love of her life.

"I was born and grew up in Holland. In July 1962 I met Robert T. Kvalheim, the man who later was to become my husband. April 26,1963, I immigrated to the U.S.A. and on May 25, 1963 Robert and I got married!

Next June 22, 1964, our daughter was born Marleen Lucia. We moved from N.Y.C. to Daytona Beach in Florida. After about one year we were sent to Schenectady, NY. It was so cold there! We moved to Hatboro, PA in October of 1966 and in January 1967 our son Erik Mark was born! In 1970 we moved again, this time to Harrisburg, PA, with our 3rd child Dwayne Christopher, who was born in Hatboro, PA on March 13, 1970. We had a very happy life there and in 1978, Robert accepted a position in Coral Springs, FL and we moved there. The kids all grew up there, Marleen went off to college, then Erik. One day we had to move back to PA, Westchester, where Dwayne went to high school. As luck would have it, we then moved to Orlando, FL, where Bob worked for Philip Crosby, a great job, which he really loved. I became owner of a flower shop, which I loved. After a few years, we moved to Plano, Texas, still with Crosby, for about 2 years, until we were sent back to Florida.

We bought a beautiful old house in Rockledge and a condo on the beach in Cape Canaveral. Life was wonderful!! Marleen and Erik had graduated from college and Dwayne had become a sheriff's deputy. We were so proud!! We started to look forward to Bob's retirement, the things we were going to do, where we would live, the traveling we would do. Dwayne and Kristen got married, and our first granddaughter was born on August 7, 1995.

Everything was good, until Monday November 27, 1995, when I got a phone call from a hospital in St. Petersburg, FL informing me my dearest husband Bob had died of a heart attack at 57!! I was heartbroken, as was everyone. It was unthinkable that this great guy, full of life still, would have died so suddenly and so young.

However, life went on and I kept trying to find a new avenue for my life, alone - it was impossible. I finally moved to Orlando to be close to Dwayne and Kristen, but life was not the same without my beloved Robert.
I was completely lost. The children became parents and I became a grandmother 7 times over. It was so joyful to see all these little babies, but there was always the remembrance of Bob, who was no longer with us. We all missed him so - he would have loved these babies!!

The time came and went, when Bob was going to retire, all our dreams and plans never materialized and nothing ever was the same again. There is not a day I don't think of him and miss him. He would have been so proud of his family! For me, it is not easy to get old without him, but at least I had him for 32 years and the memories will be there forever."