Marlies Gessler Tindall

Marlies Gessler Tindall, 87, of Charleston, South Carolina, wife of the late Robert L. Tindall, M.D., entered into eternal rest Wednesday, October 26, 2022.  The family will receive friends on Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 10:00 am at J. Henry Stuhr, Inc. Mount Pleasant Chapel, 1494 Mathis Ferry Road Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464.  Following her visitation the funeral service will begin at 11:00 am in the Mount Pleasant Chapel.  Entombment to follow at Mt. Pleasant Memorial Gardens, 1308 Mathis Ferry Rd, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464.
 
Marlies was born November 15, 1934 in Lodz, Poland, daughter of the late Otto-Heinrich Gessler and the late Maria Pienkowska Gessler.  She and her mother survived the Nazi invasion, and the subsequent Soviet advance through Poland. They fled Poland, separately, with her mother finding her way to Germany’s American zone, but Marlies mired in the Russian zone.  Marlies’ mother heroically ventured into the Russian zone, searching for and eventually finding her. Together they hiked for miles through snow and the darkness of night, eluding and outwitting the Russian soldiers tasked with preventing their escape to freedom. They settled in Heidelberg, where Marlies excelled in gymnastics and the arts, and became fluent in English. She was also struck by the extraordinary kindness and generosity of the American military and their families. She immersed herself in learning about American culture, and dreamed of living her life in America.
Marlies and her mother immigrated to the United States in 1951, with the sponsorship of a U.S. Army General.  In 1952 she enrolled at Florida State University. At FSU, she studied art, and starred as a trapeze and high-wire acrobat in the school’s Flying High Circus.  Her freshman year she was elected Homecoming Queen, and on December 15, 1952, she graced the cover of Life Magazine. In 1955 Marlies won the Miss Florida pageant, and later that year was a semi-finalist at the Miss U.S.A. pageant.  She graduated from FSU in 1956, with a Bachelor of Arts degree.  After graduation she was employed as Fashion Coordinator of Burdine’s department store in Miami. She married, and raised her children in Coral Gables, Florida.

Marlies and husband Robert relocated to South Carolina in 1987, and settled in Charleston two years later. She loved Charleston and its community, and devoted herself to volunteer work, especially with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League and the Gibbes Museum of Art.  Close friends will fondly remember Marlies for her annual Christmas parties and frequent gourmet dinners, and her remarkable athletic stamina - as displayed on hiking trips, dance classes at the Robert Ivey Ballet Academy, and group fitness and personal training sessions at the MUSC Wellness Center.      
 
She is survived by sons Constantine Limmiatis of Atlanta, and Paul Limmiatis of New York; daughter Maria Buchsbaum of Charlotte; step-daughter Sandra Saco-Vertiz of Texas; and grandchildren Maxwell Buchsbaum, Mia Buchsbaum, and Zachary Limmiatis. 
 
Memorials may be made to the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League, PO Box 30818 Charleston, SC 29417.
 
A memorial message may be sent to the family by visiting our website at www.jhenrystuhr.com