Narber, Marguerite Maxine 1923-2011

NARBER, LASHER, DELFS, PRIBYL, LONGMONT, BUGLER

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 1/31/2015 at 15:58:03

Marguerite Narber (1923 - 2011)
Urbandale

Marguerite Narber, of Lakeville, Minnesota, formerly of Windsor Heights and Urbandale, Iowa, passed away peacefully on Friday, October 21, 2011. Marguerite was born Marguerite Maxine Lasher on October 1, 1923, on a farm near La Porte City, Iowa, the daughter of Harley Franklin Lasher and Gertrude Marguerite (Delfs) Lasher. She grew up a quintessential farm girl of the era, milking more than her fair share of cows, pulling countless weeds, leading the horses to load hay in the barn's hay mow, gardening, etc.

She attended a one-room rural schoolhouse, until she moved into town (Vinton) to live with her grandmother, Helen Delfs, to attend high school. The emphasis in her family on getting an education - completing high school was somewhat unusual for girls in rural Iowa in those days - marked the raising of her own children.

Marguerite worked as a secretary for the Benton Country AAA office and at other jobs, after high school. At the end of World War II, she married hometown sweetheart James R. (Jim) Narber, following his service with the Army Air Corps in India, and the couple set up housekeeping in the trailer village at the University of Iowa, while Jim completed his studies under the GI Bill. The first of their three children, son Gregg, crowded their tiny trailer. Son Kemper (Kip) and daughter Kristin followed, after the couple moved to Des Moines, where husband Jim worked his entire career for Meredith Corporation, and Marguerite made them all a home, first in Des Moines, then in Windsor Heights. When college education years overlapped for sons Gregg and Kip, Marguerite temporarily relinquished her longtime and preferred stay-at-home Mom role and was gainfully employed outside the home for the first and only time, working as a Fuller Brush Salesperson. She was well-organized, persistent, dedicated, hardworking, and highly successful in that endeavor. Her children, and, later, her grandchildren, meant everything to Marguerite, who cheered their victories and provided support and solace, when they stumbled. She exuded a quiet strength and a remarkable inner beauty, was always upbeat, good, and kind, qualities difficult to describe well but quickly and deeply felt by those close to her in life. A delightful person to be around, she had wonderful sense of humor and a quick, easy, and highly contagious laugh. Marguerite was an avid and highly skilled mushroom hunter, and she made a mean rhubarb pie, too, one that was without peer in the civilized world! She was an enthusiastic and game traveler, who loved fishing trips to Canada with husband Jim and trips with her mother, sister Evelyn (Lasher) Pribyl, and children to many countries on six continents.

Marguerite was preceded in death by her beloved husband of over 65 years, Jim Narber, and by her parents.

She is survived by her sister and best friend, Evelyn; her three children, Gregg (Kathleen), of Longmont, Colorado, Kip (Susan), of Bend, Oregon, and Kristin Bugler (Jim), of Lakeville, Minnesota; grandchildren Josh (Destiny), of Aurora, Colorado, Zach (Amy) of Parker, Colorado, Maddie and Ella, of Longmont, Colorado, Sasha, of Bend, Oregon, and Erin, Molly, and Kelly Bugler, of Lakeville, Minnesota; great-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren, Londyn, Milan, and Sierra, of Aurora, Colorado, and Gage, Lucas, and Jordon, of Parker, Colorado.

Private committal services and burial will take place at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery in Dallas County, where Jim will also be committed and buried. Both chose to have their bodies donated to the University of Iowa Medical School. A celebration of Marguerite's life will be held, at a future date. Memorial contributions may be made, in her honor, to: Evergreen Cemetery Association; ATTN: Deb Christenson; P.O. Box 534; Vinton, IA. Those contributions will be used to help in the restoration of the cemetery grounds, decimated by last summer's severe storm. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/desmoinesregister/obituary.aspx?pid=154560395#sthash.xGDu2qSv.dpuf ~ The Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa 13 Nov 2011.