TREMBLY, Ivan Camrel

TREMBLY, SWINGLE, GRAHAM, LEEPER, WYLDFLOWER

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/12/2017 at 13:49:19

Obituary ~ Ivan Camrel Trembly
May 16, 1915 - January 06, 2017

Leon Journal-Reporter
Leon, Decatur County, Iowa

Ivan Camrel Trembly was born May 16, 1915, in Decatur County at the farm home of his parents, Camrel Hugh Zamen Trembly and Ida Ann (Swingle) Trembly, northwest of Lineville, Iowa. He was the youngest of five children, and his father was 50 years of age at the time of Ivan’s birth. He was peacefully called home by his Lord and Savior on Friday morning January 6, 2017, at Westview Care Center in Leon, Iowa, at the age of 101.

Ivan attended Pioneer School, which was located on their farm, through 8th grade. His oldest sister, Margaret Ellen, was even one of his teachers during that time. He loved to read, and his favorite subjects were English, History and Geography. In 1928, he rode a horse seven miles to attend high school at Lineville where he enjoyed playing baseball. At age 16, he got a driver’s license for a quarter and was able to drive a car on the dirt roads in good weather. He drove the baseball team to local surrounding towns for some of their games.

Ivan went to Leon for his senior year and graduated with the Class of 1933. He participated in track and took violin lessons. He always enjoyed music and taught himself to play the harmonica at age 10.

In the years 1934, and 1935, he wrote a regular column of community news for the Lineville paper called Candle Flickers, which referred to writing in the evening by kerosene light.

Ivan and his father worked with teams of horses during the Depression Years of 1934-36, and he never felt there was much of a future in farming. Those were very lean times with not much to show for all of their hard work and long days. Along with planting corn and soybeans, they also raised pigs, sheep, Hereford cattle, and chickens. Ivan did not plan to stay on the farm and studied commercial art through a correspondence course from the Minneapolis Art Institute. He was actually going to go there for his last year of study in the fall of 1936. The day he left home, he encountered car trouble when he got to Leon and took that as a sign that he wasn’t to go. The next spring, in June, 1937, his father died leaving him to run the farm of 425 acres at the age of 22. Ivan always regretted that his father never lived to see the bountiful harvest that fall¸ which provided the money to buy his first rubber-tired tractor, an Allis Chalmers WC, of which he was most proud. Through tough times and times of prosperity, he managed to hold onto what is now a Century Farm.

He got most enjoyment from inventing practical things that would help make the job of farming easier and better. Before his father died, he made an improved sheep shearer. In 1943, he built a hay stacker, and in 1954, he made an extension hopper for the seed boxes on his 2-row planter that won a prize at the Iowa State Fair Gadget Show. It was also featured in a farm magazine. He also made a rack on top of the tractor hood to lay bags of seed; and considering the many hours that farmers labored outdoors, he designed a domed fiberglass shield which made it a little cooler driving the tractor and gave protection from the sun. He never applied for patents on any of his inventions because he said it would have cost too much.

On December 29, 1940, at the age of 25, Ivan married Marjorie J. Graham of Davis City, Iowa at the parsonage of the Leon Brethren Church. She had been in his senior class at Leon; however, he never dated in high school. Ivan said he was a late bloomer and always too busy working. To this union, two children were born: Robert Bevan in 1943, and Janet Sue in 1953. They honored their vows in sickness and health, and when Marjorie became wheelchair bound from a fractured hip, Ivan took care of her at home as long as he was physically able.

Around 1945, along with other young farmers in the community, Ivan joined the Decatur County Farm Bureau where he remained a lifetime member serving as president, vice-president and secretary. He also volunteered as a leader of the local 4-H Club and was on the 4-H Council for many years. For 6 years, he served as a Soil Commissioner and was on the Leon School Board. For over 10 years, he was a Morgan Township Trustee and enjoyed working the election polls. He loved the State of Iowa and the county where he lived and always felt it was the best place to be.

Even though he worked hard on the farm and in various community positions, ultimately he knew he existed to give glory to God, and he desired a close relationship with his Creator. He made a profession of faith and was baptized around 1951, at New Salem Baptist Church, where he served faithfully over 60 years as an ordained Deacon, Sunday School teacher, song leader, and bus driver. He loved the hymns and the Biblical truths that they conveyed. Later in life, when his eyesight was failing, he could recall most of the verses from memory because they were buried deep in his heart, as well as many Scriptures. He enjoyed Christian fellowship with his church family and always looked forward to the sunrise service at Easter and the annual Thanksgiving gathering and Song Fest, praising God for His provision and many blessings through the years.

He attributed his long life to the many prayers said on his behalf, and he so appreciated the regular visits from Pastors Dale Short and Max Carmichael. We also want to thank the many care workers from Westview and HCI who became a part of our family over the years. They have expressed that they will miss Ivan’s songs and quips that he would launch into without warning. He loved to make people laugh, and he could recall so many stories about this past century that it almost seems like the library has burned down. He was a loving father and grandfather, and we were blessed to have him all these years. We will always remember him up early with the sun, singing or whistling at the start of the day.

He is survived by his wife of 76 years, Marjorie; his son, Robert, of Lineville; his daughter, Janet, and husband, Raymond Leeper, of Mt. Vernon, Iowa, grandsons, B.J. and Jodi Leeper of Olathe, Kansas; Tyler and Jamie Leeper of Minneapolis, MN; Kaleb Trembly of Davis, CA; and granddaughter, Naomi Wyldflower of Mendocino, CA; great-grandchildren, Latham, Emery, Graham, and Niko Leeper.

Funeral services and burial will be held at New Salem Baptist Church on Monday, January 9, 2017, at 10:30 A.M. with Pastor Dale Short officiating. A memorial fund has been established by the family in Ivan’s memory. Arrangements were through the Slade – O’Donnell Funeral Home in Leon, Iowa.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2017

Decatur Obituaries maintained by Constance McDaniel Hall.
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