Carolyn Louise (SCHWINGER) WAGNER

SCHWINGER, WAGNER, HELD, PIETERS, HARMAN, NYMEYER, GOLLY, MUNIER, STEVENSON, HANSEN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 5/19/2011 at 07:50:42

Obituary - Carolyn Louise (Schwinger) Wagner

Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
January 29, 2006

CLEAR LAKE - Carolyn Louise WAGNER, 96, formerly of Faulkner, Geneva and Thornton, died Friday, (Jan. 27, 2006) at Oakwood Care Center in Clear Lake, Iowa.

Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Geneva United Methodist Church with burial in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery, rural Ackley, Iowa, with the Rev. Diane MITCHELL officiating.

Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. Monday at Sietsema-Vogel Funeral Home in Hampton.

Carolyn was born June 29, 1909, at Ackley, Iowa, the daughter of Fred and Lula HELD SCHWINGER. She attended elementary and high school there, graduating with the class of 1928. As a child, she was the delivery girl for all the baked goods her mother made for many of the Ackley residents. Following graduation, she assisted her mother in a small coffee shop on Main Street, and it was there she met the young man who became her future husband.

Carolyn and Howard WAGNER were married on Jan. 18, 1932, at Hampton, Iowa, in the depths of that economic depression. Their honeymoon was a trip to Minneapolis to buy furniture for their first home in Faulkner, Iowa, a that had a small orchard and a large garden. Here it was that their family was begun, six of their children being born before they sold that home and commenced farming in the rural Geneva area in 1945.

Another large garden ensured lots of vegetables would be canned and preserved for the winter months. Carolyn loved baking almost anything, more than any of the other household duties that a good mother performs. It was a sad day if some good cookies, cake or bread was not forthcoming from that oven.

On that first farm, there was no running water, so all the cooking, canning, cleaning and laundry water was hand-carried to the house. Having been born and raised in town, it was amazing how much Carolyn loved living in the country. But she enjoyed the beauty, the quietness, and the stars at night. And she enjoyed the baby animals in the springtime, especially the little yellow chicks and her favorites, the little banty-roosters and hens.

Carolyn enjoyed reading and doing embroidery needlework, especially in her later years, as there was little time for that earlier, raising her eight children; five sons and three daughters. However, there was always time to be neighborly and she greatly enjoyed all those friendships through the years.

Her family and friends were privileged to help Carolyn and Howard celebrate many milestone birthdays and anniversaries, in particular, their 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries. Perhaps the greatest surprise she ever received was when family and neighbors gathered on her lawn to celebrate her 80th birthday. And another special party was held when Carolyn turned 90 years of age.

It was only a few days following their 65th wedding anniversary that Carolyn and Howard entered Oakwood Care Center in Clear Lake, Iowa. And it was there she died, nine years to the day, following their admittance.

As a young woman, Carolyn had joined the Royal Neighbors and recently she received a pin from them recognizing 75 years of membership. After her move to the Thornton community, she joined a Clear Lake group called the Sing and Sew Club, creating many lovely quilts as a group. She and Howard were long-time supporters of the Geneva Methodist Church, where their children received their religious education. Carolyn always enjoyed music up until her dying day.

All who ever knew Carolyn realized that her family came ahead of everything else in importance, and she worked diligently, to the best of her ability, to see to their well-being. There came great sadness into her life at the loss of her two youngest sons: David at age 5 on April 9, 1954, and James at age 42 on Feb. 7, 1990. In addition, she was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Howard, on Feb. 8, 1998, and her parents; two brothers, Lowell and Carl SCHWINGER; and four sisters, Cora PIETERS, Anna Mae HARMAN, Grace NYMEYER and Helen GOLLY; and two infant brothers.

She is survived by her children: Shirley (Mrs. Darwin) MUNIER of Des Moines, Mildred STEVENSON of Spokane, Wash., Dean (Mary) WAGNER of Waterloo, Merle (Joyce) WAGNER of Latimer, Fanny (Mrs. Martin) HANSEN of Clear Lake, Dale (Patti) WAGNER of Pea Ridge, Ark.; 26 grand-children; 42 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson.

Sietsema-Vogel Funeral Home, Hampton, (641) 456-3232.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2011

Cerro Gordo Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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