Boston, Ardys Allene Hupp (1922-2011)

BOSTON, HUPP, PETERS, PALKO, JOHNSON, ARMSTRONG

Posted By: Debbie Greenfield (email)
Date: 10/18/2016 at 16:40:07

Des Moines Register, Des Moines, Iowa, December 31, 2011

It did not seem that Ardys Boston would be a world traveler. Ardys Allene Hupp was born on July 11, 1922, in Webster City, Iowa, to Russell and Ruth Hupp, who owned a nearby farm. In 1939 she married her high school sweetheart, Howard Boston, whose family farm was only two miles away. It seemed that Ardys was destined for life on an Iowa farm. Then Howard enlisted in the Army during World War II and became a career soldier.

Thus Ardys Boston became a traveler. As an Army wife she took her children to join Howard in Korea, in Germany and in several stateside Army bases. Even in her home state of Iowa she lived in seven widely separated communities. An Army wife is often essentially a single mother, solely responsible for the family. She had to be strong and resourceful to fulfill that responsbility, and she fulfilled it admirably.

In her 40's Ardys embarked on new journeys of learning, first becoming a licensed cosmetologist. After several years teaching at LaJames Beauty School in Mason City Iowa, Ardys began a new career as a computer operator and worked 15 years at RH Donnelly Corp in Nevada, Iowa. Nevada became her true home at last, where she was an active member of the community, making many dear and treasured friends at work, at Story County Hospital, where she was a volunteer, and at St. Patrick's Catholic Church.

Ardys continued her travels after Howard's death, spending summers with her son and daughter in Iowa and winters with daughters and granddaughters in Phoenix, Arizona. And occasionally vacationing in Europe, where daughter Fran and her family were stationed.

On December 13, 2011 Ardys Allene Boston embarked on that final journey that all of us must eventually take.

She is survived by her youngest sister, Patricia Peters; five children, Bob Boston (Judy Palko), Clive, IA; Rita Abbott, Des Moines, IA; Mary Boston (Greg Johnson) and Carolyn Boston, Phoenix, AZ; Frances (Larry) Armstrong, Edgewood, MD; fifteen grandchildren and eighteen great-grandchildren.

On her final journey she takes with her their boundless love and gratitude.

Services will be held at the Beautitudes in Phoenix on January 3, 2012. A Funeral Mass will be held at a later date at St. Patrick's Church in Nevada.