Mercedes (or Merce as she was affectionately known) Himmelberg died Monday (Feb. 1, 2010) at the Bluff in Columbia. She was 89.

Born Sept. 24, 1920,  she was the third of eight children of Alfred J. Pohlman and Adela J. Weber in Rhineland. She graduated from Hermann High School in 1938 and attended Southwest Missouri Teacher’s College in Springfield. She taught school for a few years and then went to work at Curtis-Wright Munitions Plant during World War II. After the war, she attended St. Louis City Hospital School of Nursing and graduated in 1948 as a Registered Nurse. Throughout her life, she was employed at St. Louis City Hospital, St. Joseph Hospital in Boonville and Colonial Manor Nursing Home in Glasgow.

In 1948, she met Robert Himmelberg in Glasgow. They were married May 14, 1949, at the Church of the Risen Savior in Rhineland. They made their home in Glasgow until they moved to Columbia in 2002 to be closer to family.

Survivors include her daughters, Monica M Thompson of Quincy, Ill., Lisa M. Browning and husband, Barry, of Kansas City, Kan., Teresa M. Meyer and husband, Tom, of Columbia; and former son-in-law, Dale Thies of Overland Park, Kan. She is also survived by 11 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and three siblings.

She was preceded in death by her husband in 2003; three sisters and one brother.

She was very active in the Glasgow community, involved in St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Heart of Missouri Girls Scout troops, the Council of Catholic Women, the Daughters of Isabella, the Legion of Mary, the American Legion Ladies’ Auxiliary, Pro-Life organizations and other civic organizations. She was also a volunteer at the Colonial Manor Nursing Home, the Glasgow Community Museum, and St. Mary’s Catholic Elementary School.

Funeral Mass will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. A luncheon will be at noon at the Glasgow American Legion Hall. A visitation was held from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Friemonth-Freese Funeral Home with a prayer service at 7:30 p.m.

Memorials are suggested to St. Mary’s Catholic Church, c/o Frie-month-Freese Funeral Home, 112 Market St., Glasgow, MO 65254.