FIELD, Bert 1909-2004

FIELD, HALL, SHULTZ

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 2/14/2009 at 11:40:47

RUDD, IOWA - Bert Field, 94, of Rudd, died Friday morning, Jan. 2, 2004, at his home, surrounded by his family.

Funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at the United Methodist Church, 611 Sixth St., Rudd, with Pastor Jim Turner and Chaplain Kathy Graves officiating. Interment will take place in Riverside Cemetery in Rockford.

The family will greet friends from 3 to 5 p.m. today at Fullerton-Schumburg Funeral Home, 302 W. Main St., in Rockford.

Those wishing to extend memorials or expressions of sympathy may direct them to Bert's family in the care of his daughter, Karol Kelsey, 1765 Hickory Ave., Rudd, Iowa, or to Hospice of North Iowa.

Bert Field was born May 26, 1909, in Magnolia, Illinois, to Hallie (Hall) and Nomen Field Sr. He was the fourth child of 14 children born to his parents. Bert attended school in Illinois and at the approximate age of 11, moved with his family to Floyd County, where he remained the rest of his life.

On August 28, 1927, Bert was united in marriage to Mildred Marie Shultz in Nora Springs. They became the proud parents of six children.

"Grandpa Bert," as he was fondly known by his family and friends, was a hard working farmer. In 1945, Bert and Mildred built a new home and planted the landscaping on the land, which ultimately became their family farm.

Bert found great pride in raising a variety of animals including mink, hogs, cattle, turkeys and chickens.

He was especially proud of his large, black bull, "Charlie," who had the disposition of being more like a pet. Bert currently had the companionship of a special cat, "Susie" in his home.

Following Bert's retirement from grain farming, he busied himself tending to four large vegetable gardens, his strawberry bed, his melon patches and raising chickens. He was well-known for his generosity of sharing his produce from the gardens and selling fresh brown eggs from his laying hens.

Bert had a great passion for spending as much time as possible outdoors. Throughout Bert's life, he enjoyed his leisure time fur trapping and fishing in area creeks and rivers and hunting all types of wild game, especially deer.

He treasured traveling to the western states, such as Wyoming and Montana, to camp in tents and experience hunting outside of Iowa.

Many of Bert's relatives, neighbors and friends will recall the challenges of game playing with Bert. He enjoyed many card and board games such as canasta, cribbage, dice, 500, pinochle and marbles.

Spending time with his family was important to Bert, and his children claim that their father always "lived life the way he wanted and to the fullest." They further claim that he had a wonderful sense of humor, and was witty, soft-spoken, strong-willed and knowledgeable. He was very much a naturalist and not materialistic.

Bert will be dearly missed by his family and friends.

He is survived by his daughters; Karol (Burt) Kelsey and Margery (Virden) Demaray, all of Rudd; his son Dennis (Sharon) Field, of Nora Springs; his sister, Marlys (Mario) Rinaldi, of Cupertino, Calif.; and his brother, Jerry (Jan) Field, of Manchester, Tenn. Bert will also be sadly missed by his 12 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren, and many other relatives and friends.

Preceding Bert in death were his wife, Mildred, of 64 years; his parents, Hallie and Nomen Field Sr.; two daughters, Marilyn and Mary Ann Field; a son, Jim Field; eight brothers; three sisters; one grandson, Chris Field; one great-granddaughter, Santana Field; and one great-great-granddaughter, Daisy Fox.

Fullerton Funeral Home and Cremation Services, (641) 423-8676.

[Mason City Globe Gazette - Jan 5, 2004]