SYLVESTER, Myrtle Agnes (nee Heusman) 1920-2007

SYLVESTER, HEUSMAN, TROGE

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 11/6/2008 at 18:46:18

#1 of 2 items:

CHARLES CITY, IOWA — Myrtle Sylvester, 86, of Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, and formerly of Charles City, died on Sunday (June 10, 2007) at Saint John’s Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

Funeral services for Myrtle Sylvester will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Saint John Evangelical Lutheran Church with Pastor Dennis Niezwaag officiating. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Charles City.

Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at Hauser Funeral Home, 1205 S. Main in Charles City. Visitation will continue one hour prior to the service Saturday at the church.

For virtually all of her adult life, children were the primary focus and concern of Myrtle A. Sylvester.

Whether they were her own children, her children’s children or the children she instructed during a 30-year teaching career in northeast Iowa, her driving motivation was always the same — to guide them to a better life through education.

Even after her retirement from the Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock community schools in 1985, Mrs. Sylvester remained active for more than three years as the parish education associate at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charles City.

It was only with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in the mid-1990s that she finally relinquished all formal teaching responsibilities, but she still spent happy hours with her grandchildren and, eventually great-grandchildren, frequently with a storybook or an encyclopedia in her hands.

Born Myrtle Agnes Heusman on July 19, 1920, in Floyd County, she was the second of three children of Arthur and Mathilda Troge Heusman. She attended rural elementary schools, graduated from Charles City High School and — after putting her own two children through college — earned her bachelor’s degree from Wartburg College.

Myrtle began her teaching career directly out of high school, teaching country schools in Cedar, St. Charles and Pleasant Grove townships in Floyd County. She was married to Donald E. Sylvester on Jan. 19, 1942, and the couple raised their two children — Curtis and Suzanne — on the 187-acre family farm nine miles southwest of Charles City.

Mrs. Sylvester returned to teaching in the 1950s and eventually spent 22 years teaching the sixth grade in the Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock school system. During that time she was also active as a Sunday school and Bible school teacher at St. John Lutheran in Charles City.

Although she was known for being strict and a disciplinarian, she was popular with her students as witnessed by the many graduation announcements, wedding invitations and birth announcements she received from former students years after they had left her classroom.

Mrs. Sylvester was a lifetime member of the National Education Association, an Altar Guild member and was active in establishing the St. John Lutheran Scholarship Fund. She resided in Charles City until 1997, when she moved to Michigan to be closer to her son.

Next to her family and teaching, the thing Mrs. Sylvester enjoyed most in life was sports. She was a longtime fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes (Mark Sindlinger in football, B.J. Armstrong in basketball and coach Hayden Fry), the Boston Red Sox (most notably Ted Williams) and most recently the Detroit Tigers.

Mrs. Sylvester is survived by her son, Curt Sylvester, of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.; her daughter, Suzanne (Bill) Cattell, of Orlando, Fla.; her brother, Kenneth Heusman, of Monroe, Mich.; five grandchildren, Emily (Danny Burr) Cattell, Andrew Cattell, of Atlanta, Rebecca (Chris) Tull, Amy (Brian) Hayes and Dan Sylvester; eight great-grandchildren, Allison, Nicholas and Natalie Hayes, Kayla and Sophia Sylvester, Anna and Lucy Tull and Weston Cattell Burr; and three nephews, Kenneth (Gail) Heusman, Richard (Helen) Heusman and Jerry (Mary) Pesartic.

She was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Cora Pesartic; a brother, Charles Heusman; and a niece, Janice Pesartic.

Memorials may be directed to the St. John Scholarship Fund, 200 S. Main, Charles City, IA 50616.

The Hauser Funeral Home, (641) 228-2323, www.hauserfh.com

[Mason City Globe Gazette -- Wednesday, June 13, 2007]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#2 of 2 items:

Visitation:
Hauser Funeral Home
1205 South Main
Charles City, Iowa

Service:
10:30 AM - Saturday, June 16, 2007
St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church
1205 South Main
Charles City, Iowa

Myrtle Sylvester, 86, of Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, formerly of Charles City, died Sunday, June 10, 2007, at Saint John’s Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

For virtually all of her adult life, children were the primary focus and concern of Myrtle A. Sylvester.

Whether they were her own children, her children’s children or the children she instructed during a 30-year teaching career in northeast Iowa, her driving motivation was always the same –- to guide them to a better life through education.

Even after her retirement from the Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock community schools in 1985, Mrs. Sylvester remained active for more than three years as the Parish Education Associate at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charles City.

It was only with the onset of Alzheimer ’s Disease in the mid-1990s that she finally relinquished all formal teaching responsibilities but she still spent happy hours with her grandchildren and, eventually, great-grandchildren, frequently with a storybook or an encyclopedia in her hands.

Born Myrtle Agnes Heusman on July 19, 1920 in Floyd County, she was the second of three children of Arthur and Mathilda Troge Heusman. She attended rural elementary schools, graduated from Charles City High School and – after putting her own two children through college – she earned her Bachelor’s degree from Wartburg College.

Myrtle began her teaching career directly out of high school, teaching country schools in Cedar, St. Charles and Pleasant Grove townships in Floyd County.

She was married to Donald E. Sylvester on January 19, 1942, and the couple raised their two children – Curtis and Suzanne – on the 187-acre family farm nine miles southwest of Charles City.

Mrs. Sylvester returned to teaching in the 1950s and eventually spent 22 years teaching the sixth grade in the Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock school system. During that time she was also active as a Sunday school and Bible school teacher at St. John Lutheran in Charles City.

Although she was known for being strict and a disciplinarian, she was popular with her students, as witnessed by the many graduation announcements, wedding invitations and birth announcements she received from former students, years after they had left her classroom.

Mrs. Sylvester was a lifetime member of the National Education Association, an Altar Guild member and was active in establishing the St. John Lutheran Scholarship Fund. She resided in Charles City until 1997, when she moved to Michigan to be closer to her son.

Next to her family and teaching, the thing Mrs. Sylvester enjoyed most in life was sports. She was a longtime fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes (Mark Sindlinger in football, B.J. Armstrong in basketball and coach Hayden Fry), the Boston Red Sox (most notably Ted Williams) and most recently the Detroit Tigers.

Mrs. Sylvester is survived by her son, Curt Sylvester of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.; her daughter, Suzanne (Bill) Cattell of Orlando, Fla.; her brother, Kenneth Heusman of Monroe, Mich.; five grandchildren, Emily (Danny Burr) Cattell, Andrew Cattell of Atlanta, Rebecca (Chris) Tull, Amy (Brian) Hayes, and Dan Sylvester; eight great grandchildren, Allison, Nicholas and Natalie Hayes, Kayla and Sophia Sylvester, Anna and Lucy Tull, and Weston Cattell Burr; and three nephews, Kenneth (Gail) Heusman, Richard (Helen) Heusman and Jerry (Mary) Pesartic.

She was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Cora Pesartic; a brother, Charles Heusman; and a niece Janice Pesartic.

Memorials may be directed to the St. John Scholarship Fund, 200 South Main, Charles City, Iowa.

[Hauser Funeral Home obituary - www.hauserfh.com ]