Varland, Lois I (1918-2017)

VARLAND, WILLS, STENBERG, JANSEN, HENRY

Posted By: Colleen J Ossman (email)
Date: 3/23/2017 at 20:19:38

Boeke Funeral Home, Radcliffe, Iowa
Mar 9, 2017

Lois Irene Varland, daughter of Henry "Albert" and Ardaline Wills, was born on September 7, 1918 on a farm north of Stanhope, Iowa. She passed away on Wednesday, March 8, 2017, at Hubbard Care Center after a good, long life spanning more than 98 years.

While growing up, Lois lived the country life and moved with her family several times living on rented farms in the Radcliffe and Stanhope areas. She helped her dad with the outside chores growing up during the Great Depression, and often recounted fond memories of roller skating at country school and experiencing the cold and snowy winter of 1936 in the months before her graduation from Radcliffe High School that spring. That summer she attended Iowa State Teacher's College in Cedar Falls and then taught at country schools in the Stanhope area in the years before her marriage, a profession that required teaching multiple grades simultaneously while stoking the fireplace in the one-room schoolhouse and shoveling snow. She was a multi-tasker from an early age.

Lois married LaVerne Varland on June 1, 1940 at the Little Brown Church in Nashua. She recounted that her bread-making was one of the reasons LaVerne asked for her hand in marriage--a gift among many that impressed generations of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who shared her table in the decades that followed and who had the privilege to enjoy her amazing apple pies, buns, ham gravy, and kringla. She concentrated on being a farm wife and mother on the Varland farm 2 ½ miles northwest of Radcliffe in the 52 years she and LaVerne were married prior to his passing in 1992. She also shared in the hard work on their century farm, including walking beans, harvesting corn each fall and raising chickens.

Lois moved from the farm to Radcliffe in 1997. In 2011, she moved to an apartment in Story City. She became a resident of Bethany Manor in Story City in 2014. Her final residence was Hubbard Care Center where she moved in December 2016.
Lois was a member of Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Radcliffe and was active in Ladies Aid Society as well as the Radcliffe Garden Club. She loved music, especially playing the piano at home, visiting friends, quilting, baking, growing vegetables and flowers, and attending annual family reunions. Her quilts provide a lasting legacy for many in her family. Lois was a very caring person and spent her life serving others, especially her family.

She is survived by her children Marilyn (Ronald "Red") Stenberg of Ames, Larry of Radcliffe, Ken (Carolyn) Varland of New Ulm, MN, Robert (Tammy) Varland of Fort Dodge; nine grandchildren David Stenberg of Ames, Tim (Dawn) Stenberg of Sioux Falls, SD, Mark (Mandy) Stenberg of Huxley, Thomas (Sonee) Stenberg of Excelsior, MN, Sara (Chris) Jansen of Kellogg, Scott (Dana) Varland of Duluth, MN, Brian (Nichole) Varland of Eden Prairie, MN, Rachel (Ben) Henry of North Branch, MN and Brooke Varland of Fort Dodge; twenty-two great-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren: Hattie, Noah, twins Elijah and Elliott, Colby, Brandon, Calie, Nash, Callen, Jack, Bennett, Griffin, Mathias, Marit, Brandon, Emma, Luke, Lily, Kaitlynn, Kalley, twins Kayden and Kale; one step-great-great-grandchild, Nina Rose, several nieces and nephews, and longtime friend, Ann Houck.
Lois is preceded in death by her parents,her husband, LaVerne, her son, Wayne (2007), and nine siblings (Emma, Leona, Muriel, Lester, Sterling, Ralph, Caroline, Velma and Lavonne).