Ever the nurse, following her graduation from Theda Clark School of Nursing Marion received a scholarship for graduate work in surgical nursing at Belleview Hospital, New York City. After that training she worked for three years in Salem, Oregon, returning to Chicago's Cook County Hospital as neurosurgical ward supervisor until 1942 when she enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps. Serendipity stepped in when heading home to Neenah on leave in August of 1943 she was reacquainted with a former school mate, Nathan Wauda, who had enlisted in 1940, and who was also heading home to Neenah on leave. On Thanksgiving of that year he flew to Denver, where Marion was stationed training nurses at Lowry Air Base, to propose. The following September 20th Nate received orders to go overseas. He flew to Denver on a 72 hour pass and they were married on the 30th. Nate was quoted in 1995 as saying, “She outranked me when we got married and still does.”

(Nate's service record indicates that he was assigned to the 1st Army Command in England from October, 1944 to January, 1945 when he was assigned to the 3rd Army, 99th Division in January. He must have wrangled a leave back to the states, for the couples' first child was born in October of 1945.)

Marion left the Army in 1945 and settled in to raise a family in Neenah. In few years following the birth of their third child in 1952 they began to realize that he was slower to develop than his older two brothers, but was not diagnosed as disabled, "retarded" in those days, until he was about to enter kindergarten. At that point Marion began looking around for support and finding little to none she helped organize and found the Neenah-Menasha Association for Retarded Children in 1957. She continued that work for years after, serving on the board of the special student Gillingham school, and Rehabilitation House, a half-way house for patients from the Winnebago State Hospital, among many other organizations and programs for special education. Her involvement in the community was not exclusive to this work (Oshkosh Daily-Northwestern, 26 Nov 1969).

She and her husband, who took a job with Kimberly-Clark after the war, were early members of the Neenah Historical Society, formed in 1948, and instrumental in its purchase of a permanent home in the Octagon House in 1993 (Post-Crescent, 14 Apr 1993).
Nate was proud of, and somewhat famous for his cemetery walks and depictions of the historical persons of Neenah-Menasha.

While members of the Historical Society Marion and Nate were also very much involved in the founding of the Paper International Hall of Fame in 1992 which today oversees the operation of the Paper Discovery Center in Appleton.

Ever the nurse, following her graduation from Theda Clark School of Nursing Marion received a scholarship for graduate work in surgical nursing at Belleview Hospital, New York City. After that training she worked for three years in Salem, Oregon, returning to Chicago's Cook County Hospital as neurosurgical ward supervisor until 1942 when she enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps. Serendipity stepped in when heading home to Neenah on leave in August of 1943 she was reacquainted with a former school mate, Nathan Wauda, who had enlisted in 1940, and who was also heading home to Neenah on leave. On Thanksgiving of that year he flew to Denver, where Marion was stationed training nurses at Lowry Air Base, to propose. The following September 20th Nate received orders to go overseas. He flew to Denver on a 72 hour pass and they were married on the 30th. Nate was quoted in 1995 as saying, “She outranked me when we got married and still does.”

(Nate's service record indicates that he was assigned to the 1st Army Command in England from October, 1944 to January, 1945 when he was assigned to the 3rd Army, 99th Division in January. He must have wrangled a leave back to the states, for the couples' first child was born in October of 1945.)

Marion left the Army in 1945 and settled in to raise a family in Neenah. In few years following the birth of their third child in 1952 they began to realize that he was slower to develop than his older two brothers, but was not diagnosed as disabled, "retarded" in those days, until he was about to enter kindergarten. At that point Marion began looking around for support and finding little to none she helped organize and found the Neenah-Menasha Association for Retarded Children in 1957. She continued that work for years after, serving on the board of the special student Gillingham school, and Rehabilitation House, a half-way house for patients from the Winnebago State Hospital, among many other organizations and programs for special education. Her involvement in the community was not exclusive to this work (Oshkosh Daily-Northwestern, 26 Nov 1969).

She and her husband, who took a job with Kimberly-Clark after the war, were early members of the Neenah Historical Society, formed in 1948, and instrumental in its purchase of a permanent home in the Octagon House in 1993 (Post-Crescent, 14 Apr 1993).
Nate was proud of, and somewhat famous for his cemetery walks and depictions of the historical persons of Neenah-Menasha.

While members of the Historical Society Marion and Nate were also very much involved in the founding of the Paper International Hall of Fame in 1992 which today oversees the operation of the Paper Discovery Center in Appleton.