Memorial for Marie Ione Harttman
Visitation for this former Eureka High School music teacher will be Friday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., with the service at 7 p.m. in the chapel of Oak Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery, 10301 Big Bend Rd., Kirkwood.
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Marie Ione Harttman, beloved music teacher for many at Eureka High School, died Thursday.
Born on May 31, 1924, she was the only child of Jack and Flossie (nee Goodman) Harttman. She attended Rockhill schools and graduated from Webster Groves High School. She obtained her bachelors degree from Webster University at age 19 with a degree in music education, and also received her master's degree in music from Webster University.
Visitation will be held Friday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., with the service at 7 p.m. in the chapel of Oak Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery, 10301 Big Bend Rd., Kirkwood, MO 63122.
She began her teaching career at Eureka High School in 1946 as a music teacher and retired in 1982, as director of music for the Rockwood School District, to take care of her mother. During her career, she touched the hearts of many students who went on to have music as an important part of their lives. Harttman always said that her students were her children. She loved to share stories about them and the countless musicals, cantatas, choral and band concerts that she oversaw over the years.
She was a member of Concordia Lutheran Church in Kirkwood, and played in the bell choir until health prevented her from continuing.
For the last eight years she was a resident of Manor Grove Nursing Home in Kirkwood. She is survived by cousins and preceded in death by her parents.
Memorials can be made through the Oak Hill funeral home to the Eureka High School Music Program.
Editor's Note: Much appreciation goes to David Weber for details about Ms. Harttman.
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Eureka High School
4525 Highway 109, Eureka, MO -
Rockwood School District -- Administrative Center
111 E North St, Eureka, MO
Valerie Tichacek
4:18 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
Boy, do I have stories about Miss Harttman. Most of them deal with her being kind, generous, and extremely instrumental in the lives of many of us who went on to work as professional musicians after high school. She nurtured so many of us as singers, would have us to her house for lessons, to rehearse, or just to visit whenever we wanted. You were always welcome if you just showed up at her front door. And if you didn't have a ride home from after school rehearsals, she would take you home herself, thinking nothing of making trips to Eureka, Times Beach, Peerless Park and Fenton, all before heading to her home in Crestwood.
Riding in her car was always interesting, because she was all of about 4'10" tall and, sitting on 2 telephone books, she could just barely see over the dashboard.
A couple of interesting things that she told me about her early life, and that I still remember are;
- she graduated High School at the age of 16, and college by the time she was 20. She began teaching at Eureka shortly afterward.
- she was engaged to a man during WWII, who died in combat. She never married.
- during WWII, she played 1st Trombone for the St. Louis Women's Philharmonic.
Julie Brown Patton
4:48 pm on Monday, June 11, 2012
Valerie, these memories are so vivid!! They do help paint a more complete depiction of Ms. Harttman's generosity.