Marvin Wayne Jochimsen, 89, of Madison, passed away on September 11, 2025. He was born on February 19, 1936, in Manilla, Iowa.
Marvin attended the University of Iowa and is a veteran, having served as an instructor at the US Army Ordnance Guided Missile School in Huntsville. His career spanned the 60s through the 90s and led him on many paths toward what he considered to be the promise of the future – technology development. As an engineer, Marvin worked for Spacecraft, Inc./NASA on the Saturn 5 rocket and later became a pioneer in the early days of the modern mainframe era, working with the goliath IBM System/370 at the Mississippi Research and Development Center. Marvin went on to manage data processing for Blue Cross/Blue Shield and then SunTech (Chase Financial).
Retirement allowed him to focus on many of his lifelong hobbies. Marvin could fix anything – and did – even if it wasn’t really all that broken to begin with. His love of aviation took him from building model planes to achieving his pilot’s license. From tinkering with engines to designing and creating beautiful woodwork and furniture, Marvin loved to work with his hands. His quirky sense of humor made him a very funny man (and nobody thought he was funnier than he did), but he was also a generous man, volunteering his time to countless causes, notably the management of scoring data for the International Ballet Competition and serving as a Deacon at First Baptist Church in Jackson.
Marvin and his wife of 41 years, Suzanne, loved to travel abroad, but were most happy together at home, where they raised many Dachshunds over the years, all of whom were cherished family members. He is preceded in death by his parents, Herman and Ida Jochimsen and his sisters, Winona Rowedder and Marion Ream, all of Manning, Iowa. Marvin is survived by his beloved wife and best friend, Suzanne Jochimsen, his sister, Karen Bohm (Ed), his three daughters, Juli Jochimsen, Susan Hood (David), and Emily Harper (Jay), and his three grandchildren, Ryan and Peyton Harper and Alexander Hood, as well as many friends and extended family members who will miss him dearly. The celebration of life service was preceded by visitation on September 17, 2025, at Natchez Trace Funeral Home followed by the interment at Natchez Trace Memorial Park Cemetery in Madison.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to further dementia research at www.alz.org or to Webster Animal Shelter in Madison.
