Winifred (Roehm) Hirsch Ward

Winifred "Wyn" Roehm Hirsch Ward, 93, died Thursday, April 3, 2025, at the Chateau Girardeau. She was born July 22, 1931, in Detroit, Michigan, to Dr. Harold and Lucile Wickham Roehm. Wyn's first marriage was to Robert Hirsch. They had four children, Lucile, Ellen, Christian, and Margaret. Tragically, Margaret Ione and Christian Robert died in an airplane accident in 1981. In 2007, Wyn married Byron Allen Ward of Beaverton, Oregon. Byron passed away February 27, 2025. Wyn graduated from Kingswood School Cranbrook, and Wellesley College in 1952, with a degree in Spanish. She completed additional hours in education and graduate courses at Southeast Missouri State University, with a lifetime secondary certificate in French and Spanish. She taught for 20 years in Cape Girardeau public and parochial schools, and briefly at Southeast Missouri University. For several years, she was a travel agent, and for fifteen years she was a tour director for Elderhostel in Oaxaca, Mexico. Wyn was an active member and elder of First Presbyterian Church in Cape. Other affiliations included Chapter FY, PEO Sisterhood; Mississippi Valley Chapter of the Ozark Society; life member and volunteer at Southeast Hospital since 1964; FISH pantry volunteer, and hospice volunteer. Wyn loved to travel, listen to good music, sail and canoe, and play bridge with a group established in the mid-1950s. She helped fund a French scholarship at SEMO and was a strong supporter of the River Campus. Loving survivors include two children, Lucile Fitzgerald Hirsch, DVM (Melvin Sadler), and Ellen Hirsch Mantia (Mrs. William); five grandchildren, Megan Rose, Jessica Lane and Dane Christian Mantia, Melinda Hirsch Mueller and Diana Hirsch Sadler; a sister-in-law Jane (the late George) Roehm of Perry, Michigan; many nieces, nephews and other family members. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Wednesday, April 9, 2025, at First Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau with the Rev. Ellen Gurnon officiating. Arrangements for cremation were handled by McCombs Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau. If considering a memorial contribution, the family suggests the Memorial Fund of First Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau or SEMO River Campus Music Department.