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Bea Patzer dedicated to business, family

Hardware store owner dies Monday after complications from surgery

Photo courtesy of Colette Patzer Bea Patzer is pictured with her sons Mark and Lyle at the Patzer Hardware Store’s 50th anniversary celebration held last summer. Bea Patzer was a solid partner in starting the business with her late husband Archie. Lyle and Mark now operate the store.

MARSHALL — Bea Patzer of Marshall was well-known for all the hard work she and her late husband Archie put into their main street hardware store. She left it all behind when she died Monday, but her family has fond memories of her and her legacy of hard work and dedication to church and family.

“Family was the most important thing to Mom,” daughter Cathy Kosobayashi of North Oaks said Tuesday. “It was great that we could all work in the store at one time or another. It was (and still is) a family business.”

Kosobayashi’s brothers Lyle and Mark took over the business in 1996 when their father died. Their mother continued to work in the store as its bookkeeper until she was 82, in 2010.

“Mom was a very meticulous bookkeeper,” Lyle Patzer said. “She followed the letter of the law.”

“Everything had to balance to the penny,” Kosobayshi said.”

“She was very dedicated to the business she built with her husband,” Lyle Patzer said.

Bea Patzer died Monday at Heritage Pointe Senior Living in Marshall after suffering complications from surgery after a fall she had taken on Dec. 27, and the family was able to be there for her in the end. She was surrounded by family while her pastor led them in the Lord’s Prayer, the children said.

“We all got to be part of it,” said Bea Patzer’s daughter Beth Fliss of Chaska.

Bea Patzer was born on Dec. 25, 1929, in Stutsman County near Jamestown, North Dakota.

Fliss said her mother ran her home like she did as the bookkeeping at the store.

“She managed her home very efficiently as well,” Fliss said. “She sewed and canned.”

“She had a large garden and did baking,” Kosobayashi said.

Church was equally important to Bea Patzer, her children said.

“She surprised everyone by walking to a New Year’s Eve service with her walker on the ice,” Kosobayashi said. Normally, their mother would get a ride to church from someone.

Bea Patzer had been active in choir at Christ Lutheran Church, and brought food for various Ladies Aid events, her daughters said.

“It was kind of cool she passed away on the same day her mother died 48 years ago,” Kosobayashi said.

Rosalie Kropp stepped up to take the bookkeeper spot and Mark’s wife, Colette, works part time at the store in sales and bookkeeping. Mark and Colette’s son, Austin, also works at the store.

“I think she was pretty proud we boys kept the store going,” Lyle Patzer said. “The Patzer name has been on Main Street for 51 years, and she and Dad started it.”

Archie and Bea Patzer purchased the Gambles hardware store in Marshall in 1967.

Gambles’ original location was at 348 W. Main; at that time, it was next to the fire station and police station. In 1984, the company moved to its current location, 411 W. Main.

Woolworth’s and Penney’s were at one time located here. In 1988, the decision was made to change the franchise to Hardware Hank. At that time, the name was changed to Patzer’s Hardware Hank. 

Gambles/Patzer’s has always sold furniture and appliances, but that portion of the business was renamed as Patzer’s Furniture & Appliance in 1997.

Patzer’s sisters agreed that the family store was a strong legacy their parents would be proud of.

Funeral services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Marshall. Burial will be in the Marshall Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 4-8 p.m. Thursday at the Hamilton Funeral Home in Marshall.

A prayer service is scheduled for 7 p.m.Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service on Friday at the church.

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