Marcia Gail Coco

Marcia Gail Coco of Des Moines, Iowa passed away peacefully on October 12, 2024, just days after her 80th birthday. She was a generous, caring and joyful person loved tremendously by her family and friends, whose lives she enriched over the course of her long life.

Marcia was raised on a family farm in Burt, Iowa with her brothers and sister, and attended a small country school with multiple grades taught in the same classroom. As a young woman, she moved to Des Moines and obtained a certification in bookkeeping. She worked as a bookkeeper at The Des Moines Club for many years and later took a job at Title Department of the Polk County Treasurer’s Office where she worked until she retired in 2014.

Marcia was a loving wife, mother and grandmother. Her many grandchildren referred to her affectionately as “Grandma Mackie.” She loved spending time with her family and honored them with the many selfless sacrifices she made to ensure their happiness and wellbeing. She always put her family and friends first. In her later years, she devoted herself to taking care of her late husband, Frank, as he suffered from debilitating physical and mental challenges relating to Alzheimer’s.

Anyone who knew Marcia would tell you that she loved to garden and cook, and she was obsessive about her homegrown tomatoes. Planning and preparing family meals, especially around the holidays and birthdays, brought her tremendous joy. Among her favorite dishes were Sunday pasta with stuffed peppers, deep fried tacos, steak and potatoes with country gravy, eggs and pancakes cooked in bacon fat, and homegrown tomato salad sourced from her garden. Her menu would not qualify as “health food,” but it was delicious and made with love and care; no one left her home hungry. Marcia also loved baking and created family traditions around it. Everyone enjoyed her frosted sugar cookies at Christmas time, which were decorated in assembly-line fashion by the entire family (except for Frank who lacked culinary zeal). She would even cook meals for her dogs, which they appreciated tremendously!

Marcia loved playing board games and cards, especially Scrabble, Pictionary and Phase 10. Family game nights at her kitchen table were fiercely competitive and involved extensive trash talking. She relished winning and would let you know it.

Marcia was the glue that held the family together, and she will forever be in our hearts. She is lovingly remembered by her son Nathan (Deborah) Coco of Shaker Heights, OH; her son Justin (Mimie) Coco of Denver, CO; her step-son Christopher (Diane) Coco of Des Moines, IA; her brothers Boyd (Rosann) Shipler of Burt, IA and Max Shipler of Pahrump, NV; her eight grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. Marcia was preceded in death by her husband, Frank Coco; her daughter Pam Meyer; her step-children Carl Coco, Cheri Coco and Celia Coco; her brother, Roger “Bud” Shipler; her sister, Mary Lou Mankle; and her granddaughter, Rachel Candiano.

A celebration of Marcia’s life will be held on December 7, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. at Hamilton's Southtown Funeral Home located at 5400 SW 9th Street, Des Moines, IA.

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