Marilyn and Marge - A Matched Set

The first step in interviewing Marilyn Zwack and Marge
Campbell should be attach name tags. It is a problem…which is which?

When they started life in Watertown, Minnesota as Marjorie and Marilyn Hammerberg, Marilyn was born first..five minutes ahead of Marge. Their parents, Ruth and Elmer Hammerberg, were totally surprised. They had been “expecting,” but they hadn’t expected twins. Mom was a homemaker, and Dad worked for the telephone company.

The family lived on the edge of town, a location that made it possible to raise a few pigs and chickens. The twins remember having to saw wood or hoe potatoes before their Dad would take them fishing.

In childhood, they say, they were shy and quiet. And obedient! When, as teenagers, their mother sent them shopping for clothes, saying quite firmly that they were size 16, they obediently bought size 16 clothes for their size 12 bodies.

They lived about a mile from school, and on their first day they got lost walking home. Actually they often rolled to school with their clamp-on-roller skates. Bikes (acquired at age 12) took them to Luther League, 4-H and other activities. Their church burned down when they were teens, and Marge and Marilyn were among those who watched it burn.

The code of behavior in the Hammberg household was strict..no movies, no dancing, no lipstick. It was, however, a happy home. “Never once did we hear our parents argue.”

Their father was musical, often playing musical instruments in his telephone truck.

There must have been “something in the water” in Watertown. There were three sets of twins in their high school class of 23.

Have Marilyn and Marge always fit the twins stereotype? They did dress alike when they were small, but in high school, not so much. They’ve always had identical interests and still call each other every day. There’s one difference in their uncanny similarity. Marge will accept a cup of coffee, but Marilyn asks for water. They’ve sometimes attended the twins convention in Twinsville, Ohio.

After high school Marge enrolled at the Minnesota School of Business in Minneapolis..and of course Marilyn did, too. Marilyn found work as a secretary and so did Marge (Marilyn at Pillsbury, and Marge at Lutheran Brotherhood).

One night Marge went to a dance at the Business School, as did Marilyn. That night each of them met the man she would marry. (Gene Stavlo for Marilyn, and Earl Redmond for Marge.) There was a double wedding.

Early in their marriages both “took in” sewing, and both cared for foster children, along with their own.

The Stavlos had five children (three boys and two girls), and the Redmonds had four girls (one of them died.)

The Stavlo family joined Gethsemane in 1955…the Redmonds in 1967.

Marge did secretarial work part-time at Gethsemane with Pastor Harlan Robbins as her boss and Marilyn did duty in the nursery.

Marilyn and Gen Stavlo had a “friendly divorce” after 26 years of marriage, and in 1979 she married Butch Zwack, a neighbor who had been baby sitter for her children.

Marge was widowed in 1968. A mutual friend played matchmaker, introducing her to Jim Campbell, who lived in Pennsylvania. Their marriage soon followed. The Campbells adopted son Tom, and they were also surrogate parents to exchange students from Chile, Colombia, and Sweden.

The twins’ grown children are all close by. Of Marilyn’s five, Scott Stavlo is in Hopkins, Paul in Elk River, Tammi in Champlin, Dane in New Hope, and Cherry Hempel in Waterville. Of
Marge’s four, Debbie Kapinos lives in Bethel, Kim Corkins in St. Bonifacius, Kelle De Costa in Elk River, and Tom Campbell in Shakopee. Both twins are grandmothers as well as great-grandmothers.

Gethsemane’s kitchen is a home away from home for Marge and Marilyn. They’re in charge of preparing dinners for the ASK (After School for Kids) program and are also involved in serving funeral luncheons.

Both twins are members of Dorcas Circle. Together they sew about 40 school bags a year for Lutheran World Relief, colorful containers that are filled with school supplies by other circle members.

In a project called Sew Much Comfort, they produce adaptive clothing for amputees and other disabled servicemen. Utilizing a generous amount of Velcro and elastic, the clothes are designed to simplify the dressing task.

Marge Campbell and Marilyn Zwack, two of a kind and a double blessing for Gethsemane church.