Obituary

Mardell Marie (Bischoff) Oertwich
March 31, 1944--August 23, 2024 (age 80)

Mardell Marie (Bischoff) Oertwich, 80, of Pendleton, Oregon died on August 23rd, 2024, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Mardell was born on March 31st, 1944 in Fort Dodge, Iowa. She was the youngest daughter of Charles and Marie (Holtorf) Bischoff) who farmed in north-west Pomeroy, Iowa. She was always proud to be a farmer's daughter and had fond memories of growing up with her three older sisters.

In 1961, Mardell moved with her parents to Hillsboro, Oregon where she attended and graduated Hillsboro Union High School. After high school, in October of 1962, she married Robert Oran August Oertwich. They lived in Tennessee during Ron's basic training with the US Navy and then were stationed in California. In 1965, they relocated their family back to Oregon where they lived for several years raising their four children.

Mardell worked as a bookkeeper and was a Home Interiors consultant for several years. In 1987, Mardell, her husband Ron, and their youngest son Richard, moved to Togiak, Alaska, where they owned and operated Togiak River Lodge. Mardell began her career with the United States Postal Service (USPS) in 1992 as the postmaster in Togiak, Alaska. Her passion and commitment for the USPS was extraordinary. This led her to travel throughout the state of Alaska to train other postmasters in remote villages. Without her, those villages would not have access to mailing services.

She was also the USPS spokeswoman for breast cancer awareness after her initial diagnosis in 1990.

Mardell ventured back to Oregon in 2002 where she was the postmaster in Adams. She continued her exceptional career by mentoring, leading, and educating new postal employees around the state of Oregon. Mardell retired from the USPS in 2015, at the age of 70.

While living in Pendleton, Mardell was active in the community and was constantly searching for ways to help those around her. As a devoted member of Peace Lutheran Church, her dedicated faith inspired her to serve on many committees as well as the church council. She shared with the congregation her family tradition of "shaking a little love" which will be continued in her remembrance. Additionally, as a four-time Breast Cancer survivor, she was involved in the Pendleton Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign where she participated and advocated for Breast Cancer awareness through the Round-Up parade and activities.

Throughout her life, Mardell was blessed with countless friendships which she highly valued and cherished. Not only were they meaningful to her, but her friends are forever impacted by her love. Mardell enjoyed traveling, cooking, gardening, and spending time her family. She looked forward to precious times with her sisters, which were full of coffee, laughter, reminiscing, shenanigans, and playing cards. There was nothing more fulfilling in Mardell's life than being a daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, "gg" and many other family blessings. She had an ability of making those around her feel so special and loved which is something that is irreplaceable.

Mardell is preceded in death by both parents, Charles C. Bischoff and Marie A.D. Bischoff and her ex-husband Ronald O.A. Oertwich.

She is survived by her sisters Phyllis Behrens of St. Cloud, Minnesota, Myra Breon of Des Moines, Iowa, and Carol Schmidt of Hillsboro, Oregon; her children, son Jeffrey (Brenda) Oertwich of Umatilla, Oregon, daughter Ronda (Bruce) Carson of Adams, Oregon, daughter Lori Brinker of Syracuse, Indiana, son Richard (Naomi) Oertwich of Pendleton, Oregon, foster daughter Angelique Garris of Centralia, Washington; her 9 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. A private family burial is being held Thursday, September 5th at Olney Cemetery in Pendleton, Oregon. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 28th at 1 pm at Peace Lutheran Church in Pendleton, Oregon to honor and celebrate Mardell's beautiful life.
All family, friends, and community members are invited. For those unable to attend in-person, they can livestream it on Peace Lutheran Church's Facebook page.