Theresa "Thea" Toher

Per her wishes, a visitation will be held on Thursday, January 23, from 4:30- 7:00 p.m. at the Runge Mortuary. A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, January 24 at St. Paul the Apostle Church. Memorials may be made to the Friends of Vander Veer. Interment will be in Mt. Calvary Cemetery following the mass. Online condolences may be expressed at www.rungemortuary.com.

Theresa was born on March 20, 1932, to Katherine (Wirzberger) and Otto Bald in Bavaria, Germany. At twenty, she came over by boat to Toronto with her family before moving to Davenport, IA, with her family, where she fell in love and was married to Daniel Toher. Returning this time she worked for the Priester Family at the Holy Family Church as a cook.

While in Germany, Theresa was trained as a professional seamstress. She worked at designing, tailoring, and even modeling dresses for Abhrams, Ramies, Mondays, Von Maur, and also had her own business serving the community and Miss Iowa Pageants. She won first prize in the Singer Sewing Machine Contest. She was very artistic and detailed, loved her job, and took pride in her craftsmanship.

Theresa adored all things musical, artistic, and natural-especially birds and gardens. She loved Vander Veer Conservatory. Her passion for learning and creativity was something she cherished, and she passed down this love and wonderment to her children and grandchildren. She could make things magical and taught in the Montessori style. She was a wonderful storyteller and had the heart of a romantic. Her guilty pleasure was the Hallmark Channel.

On Sundays, Theresa would walk home after church to a roast in the oven she prepared. She loved going out to eat, trying different foods, and watching the cooking shows. She was a brilliant baker and won awards for her apple pie recipe which she won second prize in the Betty Crocker contest with her "Little Red Riding Hood" pastries recipe. She was most at home in the kitchen having her coffee with a little bit of vanilla ice cream “to flavor it”. She enjoyed watching movies with her family at home, but loved attending a ballet, a musical, or chamber music with them more.

Those left to cherish her memory are her loving daughter, Felicia (Jeffery) Pfluger; children, Justin and Alyssa; loving son, Peter (Anita) Toher; children, David, Alex, Benjamin, Nicole, Paige, and Tony; sister, Monica Lavers of California; and many beautiful grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Daniel Toher; parents; brother, Louis Bald and sister, Maria Bald.