Marvin W. Thies, 78, of Sumner, died Tuesday, November 12, 2013, at his home in Sumner.

Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m. Saturday, November 16, 2013, at St. John Lutheran Church in Sumner, Iowa with Rev. William Runaas, Jr. officiating.  Interment will follow at Union Mound Cemetery in Sumner. Visitation will be from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Friday at Becker-Milnes Funeral home in Sumner and for one hour preceding services at the church on Saturday. Memorials may be made in his name to St. John Lutheran Church or the Sumner Public Library. 

Marvin William, son of Arthur and Elsie Michael Thies, was born November 23, 1934, at home in Sumner, Iowa. He was baptized and confirmed at St. John Lutheran Church in Sumner. He received his education in the Sumner schools, graduating from Sumner High School in 1951, where he served as senior class president. Between high school graduation and entrance into the U.S. Army, Marvin worked as assistant manager of the produce department at McAloon’s Grocery. Marvin was stationed in Germany and served with the military police and as a radio operator. Due to the death of his father in 1957, he was discharged from the active military and returned to Sumner and served with the Army Reserve. He worked for over twenty-nine years with Chamberlain Manufacturing in Waterloo as a machinist. He was a lifelong member of St. John Lutheran Church in Sumner where he served on the church council and volunteered on several church projects. Marvin enjoyed canoeing and fishing, and was proud to have caught a nineteen and one half pound walleye while fishing in Minnesota. He will be missed cruising town in his white Ford Ranger.

Marvin is survived by his sister, Lois Sprinthall and her husband, Norman of Caswell Beach, North Carolina, and several cousins.

He was preceded in death by his parents.