Ethel Marie Kunkle 1920-2009

KUNKLE, MINTON, KUHRKE, VAUDT

Posted By: Nancy (email)
Date: 10/5/2009 at 18:32:20

Former area resident Ethel M. Kunkle, 89, died Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, at The Village at Legacy Pointe Nursing Facility in Waukee, Iowa.

Funeral services were held Monday, Sept. 28, at Jamison-Schmitz Funeral Home, Oelwein. The Rev. John Kerr officiated. Burial was in Woodlawn Cemetery, Oelwein.

Local arrangements were handled by Jamison-Schmitz Funeral Home, Oelwein.

Ethel Marie (Minton) Kunkle was born April 16, 1920, on the family's "home place" near Fairbank. She was the fourth child of Leander E. and Ida (Kuhrke) Minton.

Ethel attended Triumph Country School for grades K-8 and graduated from Fairbank High School in 1938. After high school, she completed a degree program at Dickinson Business School in Waterloo.

She met Kyle F. "Bud" Kunkle after he returned home from serving in WWII. They married on December 23, 1950, in Oelwein and farmed for most of their marriage in the Fayette area.

For several years after marriage, Ethel continued working as a legal secretary for O'Brien Law Firm in Oelwein. In the early 1960s, she became a teller for the State Bank of Fayette, retiring as head teller in 1985.

She was a longtime member of Maynard Presbyterian Church.

Ethel lived independently until she moved to Legacy Pointe in February 2008.

Preceding her in death were her parents; her husband, Bud, on Sept. 18, 1991; her brother, Lee Minton; a sister, Neva, and an infant sister, Nina; and a nephew.

Survivors include her daughter, Jeanie Kunkle Vaudt (David) of West Des Moines; nieces and nephews.

Memorial contributions in Ethel Kunkle's name may be made to Iowa Hospice, 5650 NW Johnston Drive, Johnston, IA 50131, or the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, 5452 NE 22nd Street, Des Moines, IA.

Fayette County Union - October 2, 2009