Klusmeier, Iva L. 1920-2006

KLUSMEIER, PETERSEN, ADAMSON

Posted By: Howard Pohlman (email)
Date: 3/16/2016 at 14:07:08

Iva L. Klusmeier
LATIMER — Iva L. Klusmeier, 86, of Latimer, died Monday (Sept. 11, 2006) at Franklin General Nursing Facility in Hampton, Iowa.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 15, at the Ewing Dugger Helgeson Funeral Home, 320 East St. in Latimer, Iowa, with Rev. R.D. Streeter of Des Moines officiating.
Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home and also one hour before services on Friday. Interment will be in St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery, 1207 Indigo Ave., rural Coulter, Iowa.

Iva Loraye Klusmeier was born Aug. 25, 1920, in Latimer, Iowa. She was the only child of Adolph and Oda (Petersen) Klusmeier. She received her elementary and high school education in the Latimer public school, and earned a BA degree from Upper Iowa University, where she was a Sigma Tau Delta member.

Iva was a school teacher for 52 years. She began her amazing career in Franklin County schools in 1939, teaching at Morgan, Lee and Oakland township schools for several years. Then, after one year at Franklin Community Schools, Iva accepted a position as English teacher at Sheffield-Chapin High School, where she remained for 40 years and became a legend.

Iva taught a variety of English courses during her tenure, including speech, drama and composition. She conducted the high school chorus for several years, directed school plays and sponsored many proms.

But Iva would tell you she didn’t teach subjects, she taught kids. Because in addition to language skills, she taught them the value of discipline and hard work, and doing a job correctly and well. She helped her students find self-confidence and success. She taught them how to think, analyze and solve problems. She was a stern and demanding taskmaster, not always appreciated by her students at the moment, but unfailingly appreciated by them soon after graduation, as they began to realize what they had learned in her classroom.

Iva devoted her life out of the classroom to civic matters and to the American Legion. She served a term as mayor of Latimer, and worked hard both before and after her term for the betterment of her community.

Iva was an active and highly regarded member of the Iowa American Legion Auxiliary, holding the offices of state vice-president, third district president, state chaplain, and state historian. In addition, she was the education director for Iowa Girls State for several years. Iva received the distinctive honor of serving at Girls Nation one year.

Iva enjoyed a party once in a while, too.

Iva never married. Her “family” consists of the hundreds of students whose lives she touched and influenced, who so often stopped to visit her to express their appreciation for what she taught them, who invited her to their class reunions, and who will cherish her memory with stories about her for years to come.

In addition to her students, Iva is survived by her cousins, Charles and Helen Adamson, of Haubstadt, Ind.; teaching profession colleagues from throughout the area; fellow American Legionnaires from throughout the state; and many good friends and neighbors in Latimer who so generously looked after her during the past few years as her health declined.

She was preceded in death by her parents.

Any who wish to honor Iva Klusmeier with a memorial should consider Hospice of North Iowa or The Iowa American Legion Foundation.

Ewing Dugger Helgeson Funeral Home, Latimer.