Genevieve Tomscha

Genevieve Tomscha, age 100, of Madison, died on Monday, April 26, 2021 at her home of natural causes.

Memorial mass will be 10:30 AM on Friday, April 30th at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church with Father Anthony Urban and Father DeWayne Kayser as the Celebrants.  Visitation will be 9:30 AM on Friday at the church with a Rosary at 10:10 AM.  A private family inurnment will be in St. Ann’s Cemetery-Badus Township at a later date.  Arrangements are entrusted with Rustand-Weiland Funeral Chapel.  Online guestbook is at www.rustandweilandfuneral.com.   

Genevieve Manthey was born on February 4, 1921 on a small farm in Badus Township, near Lake Badus, rural Ramona, SD to Anthony “Tony” and Mary (Egger) Manthey.  She was the oldest of six children. At age five, she moved to Madison, SD to live with her aunt to study piano for a year, as she had a gifted and natural ear for music. She returned to the farm after this year, much to her delight, to be with her family and to continue playing music. Along with her five siblings, she attended a multi-aged country school in Ramona. When they were older, Genevieve drove with her siblings to Madison where she attended high school. Her father, Tony, organized a family dance band called the Manthey Meadowlarks in which Genevieve primarily played saxophone. While they were young, the Manthey family played weekends at a number of different dance halls in the Ramona/Madison area where the Manthey Meadowlarks became quite the well-known dance band! Many area residents enjoyed their music and danced until the wee hours of the morning. Across the years, wherever she went in the Madison area, Genevieve was always greeted by someone who recalled the wonderful times they had listening and dancing to their lively Lawrence Welk-like music, and how wonderful and friendly they remembered the Manthey family to be. Genevieve attended two years at Eastern State Normal School in Madison where she studied to be a teacher, her life ambition, but withdrew after the sudden farming accident that took the life of her father.

In 1943, she married Francis Tomscha and moved to Minneapolis, MN where they lived for two years with their oldest child, Barbara (Meenakshi Devi). They returned to Madison where Francis started a plumbing and heating business, and where they raised their 12 children. Genevieve resided here until her passing. Genevieve was a member of the Catholic Daughters of America in St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, where, for decades, she played the organ at masses, funerals, weddings, and special occasions. 

Genevieve was a brilliant musician who could “play by ear”, and showcased this talent through the saxophone, piano, organ, and accordion. Genevieve’s other talents included growing beautiful flower and vegetable gardens, knitting and crocheting; she was an artist. 

Genevieve was a thoughtful mother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She appreciated life as she could to its fullest and celebrated greatly all of the talents and attributes of all those whom she knew and cared for. She was well known for tending to her elderly friends and family, often playing piano for them when available or just keeping them company. While she rarely traveled outside her immediate geographic area, Genevieve celebrated the many places that her children and grandchildren traveled, always happy to hear about their adventures and vicariously living their dreams with them. Genevieve valued the friends who visited with her when she was unable to leave her home, especially Arlene, who in the past decade made nearly weekly visits to bring her stories and meals. 

As a mother, she will be remembered as fair, honest, and always willing to share everything she had. She sacrificed greatly to ensure that her children had what they needed, and supported their career and life choices, wherever they took them. She loved each and every one of her children, letting them know that at the end of each phone conversation and/or home visit.

She is preceded in death by her mother and father, a sister, Pauline, her husband, Francis, two daughters, Terese Jean and May Lou, one son, Lawrence, and one granddaughter, Tammy. 

Genevieve is survived by three sisters, Caroline Bowers of La Grange, IL, Mary Jane Archer of Winston-Salem, NC and Patricia Anawski of Sioux Falls, SD, brother, Anthony “Tony” of Lincoln, NE; nine children, Meenakshi Devi of Pondicherry, India, Victoria (Tom)  Kolb of Sioux Falls, David (Cheri) Tomscha of Corpus Christi, TX, Rose Mary (Greg) Scholes of Minneapolis, MN, Joseph (Lori) Tomscha of Salem, OR, Kathleen Tomscha of Ojai, CA, Margaret “Peggy” Albers of Decatur, GA, John Tomscha of Madison, SD, and Patrick (Sara) Tomscha of Sioux City, IA, seventeen grandchildren, and great grandchildren. May Genevieve rest in power and peace; her lovely smile, laughter, love, and generosity will be missed.