Marlowe A. Nordlander passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, February 26, 2019, at Cape Cod Hospital at the age of 95. Marlowe was born and raised in Moline, Illinois, the middle of three daughters of the Rev. Walter A. Tillberg and Bertha E. (Bertell) Tillberg. She was a graduate of Moline High School and Augustana College, Rock Island, IL. After receiving her B.A. degree in history and working for several years as a secretary to the college president, Marlowe left in 1950 to work overseas in Germany for a division of the Lutheran Church that helped resettle displaced persons (largely from Eastern Europe) in the United States after World War II. During this time, she also traveled extensively throughout Europe.

Marlowe had always had strong connections to the Lutheran Church, her father being a Lutheran pastor. She spent a brief time studying at Biblical Seminary in New York City prior to leaving for Germany. She met Rev. J. Robert Nordlander when he was studying at Augustana Seminary and they later reconnected at a church conference. Soon after returning to the U.S. in late 1951, Marlowe and Rev. Nordlander were married at Trinity Lutheran church, her father’s parish in Moline, IL. They first lived in Auburn, MA, where Rev. Nordlander was a pastor at Bethel Lutheran Church. In 1960, Rev. Nordlander accepted a parish call to Salem Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, NY, where they remained for four years, and later to Tabor Lutheran church in Branford, CT, for ten years. Rev. Nordlander’s final position was a director of the Lutheran Church’s Seamen and International House in New York City where Marlowe also worked as a secretary at the Lutheran Church headquarters in midtown Manhattan. Upon retirement in 1986, they moved to Tampa, FL, and later to Sun City Center, FL.

Having spent many summers vacationing on Cape Cod over the years, Marlowe and Bob eventually decided to build a home in Eastham, MA, in 1974, which was a wonderful vacation spot for their family for over thirty years. After retiring, they worked for a short time as volunteers with the National Park Service at their Visitor’s Center in Eastham. In 2006, they sold their Eastham home and moved to Heatherwood in Yarmouth Port, MA.

Marlowe was an avid tennis player in her youth and also enjoyed traveling widely in the U.S. and Europe. She also loved to play bridge and continued to do so at Heatherwood for many years. She and Bob were longtime members of ST. Peter’s Lutheran church in Harwich and later First Lutheran Church in West Barnstable.

She is survived by her daughter, Krista Nordlander, and son, David Nordlander, of Massachusetts, and by daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Frank Mattern, of Germany, and their two children, granddaughter Angela, of New Zealand, and grandson Paul, of Germany. She also leaves seven nieces and nephews. Her husband predeceased her in 2013.

A memorial service for Marlowe will be held at Heatherwood in Yarmouth Port on Thursday, March 7th, at 10:00am. Burial in Woodside Cemetery will be private.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the First Lutheran Church in West Barnstable.

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