Niles, Della Jane (McMurrin) (1921 - 2003)

NILES, MCMURRIN, BROWN, POWELL, SJOBLOM, KING, LASSITER, JENSEN

Posted By: County Coordinator (email)
Date: 1/29/2021 at 16:10:08

Della Jane (McMurrin) Niles, 83, died peacefully Tuesday, December 16, 2003 in the Trinity Regional Hospital, Fort Dodge.

Memorial services will be held Friday, December 26, 2003 at 10 a.m. in the Greenwood Funeral Home, Cherokee. Rev. Ray Hampton will officiate. Burial will be in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Cherokee. Visitation will be Friday from 9 a .m. to service time at the funeral home.

The family suggests that any memorials be given to the Humane Society of Central Iowa; 2415 ½ 5th Avenue South, Fort Dodge.

“DJ” was born January 23, 1921 in Holland, Minn. to Albert Glen “Dewey” and Susan (Brown) McMurrin. Her mother died soon after her birth and she moved with her grandparents Robert and Della Jane McMurrin to Cherokee where she lived throughout her school years.

She married Elmer Powell in 1938 and they had a daughter Nancy Ann. They later divorced. In 1946 she married Alvie Dale Niles. They lived in Cherokee for several years and later in Quimby, where they farmed until Alvie’s death in 1978. She moved to Fort Dodge in 1993. There she was welcomed into the First United Methodist Church by her friend Willie Trusheim, then presiding pastor.

Della Jane loved sewing, making crafts, reading, playing cards and games, teaching her birds to talk, training her dogs, dancing, going on picnics and having daily coffee hour with the family. She was ca ring, forgiving and supportive. Her great sense of humor in many difficult situations, even as death neared.

Survivors include a daughter, Nancy Ann Niles and her husband John Sjoblom of Fort Dodge; a granddaughter, Sloan King and great grandson Niles of Minneapolis; Chad King of Fort Dodge; a brother Marv McMurrin and his wife Janice of Quimby; a niece, Lora Lassiter of Cherokee; nephews: Bob McMurrin of Hudson, Wisc.; Tim McMurrin of Portland, Ore.; longtime friend “almost a daughter” Jo Ann Jensen of Fort Dodge.

Della Jane was preceded in death by her parents, husband (Alvie), stepmother (Caroline McMurrin) grandparents and several aunts and uncles.
Source: Former Cherokee County Historical Society scrapbook