Josephine Ruth Arens, 07 Mar 1918 - 03 Jul 2012

ARENS, STALENS, WILSON, HEISHMAN, FOELS, TUTTLE, THOMAS, ARP, DYSON, GRIER, GOODRICH, WILLIS, PAPESH, MCVAY, WALTON, SCHWAB, KOUBA, PRICHARD, VILETA

Posted By: Sandy Ficken (email)
Date: 7/19/2012 at 21:13:57

Funeral Mass for Josephine R. Arens, 95, Brooklyn, was held at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 7, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Brooklyn. She died Tuesday, July 3, 2012, at Brooklyn Community Estate.

The Rev. Brian Shepley officiated at the service.

Burial was in Calvary Cemetery, Brooklyn.

A memorial fund has been established.

Kloster Funeral Home, Brooklyn, was in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be left at www.klosterfuneralhome.com.

Josephine Ruth Arens was born March 7, 1918, in Irving, a twin daughter of George and Rose Stalens Wilson. She attended the Koszta school.

She married Charley C. Arens Feb. 5, 1938, at St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Belle Plaine. The couple farmed near Chelsea, then north of Hartwick and later, near Blairstown.

In 1950, they settled at their present farm near Brooklyn. They were blessed with four daughters.

She was a member of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Brooklyn; the Altar and Rosary Society and the Poweshiek County Farm Bureau.

She enjoyed being a farm wife, helping with field work and chores. She also liked gardening and crocheting. She made each of her daughters and 11 grandchildren an afghan. She was an avid walker and walked two miles daily until she was 92.

She and her husband enjoyed many afternons in their retirement boat, fishing away the hours. They also enjoyed playing cards with their family and friends.

She enjoy baking for others and her family and friends enjoyed her pies, chocolate cakes and brownies. She dearly loved her grandchildren and they were each treated to a special birthday cake plus a card on every holiday.

Arens is survived by four daughters and their husbands, Mary Ann and Phil Heishman and Elsie and James Foels, all Brooklyn, and Alice Arens and Irlene and Russ Tuttle, all Malcom; 11 grandchildren and their spouses, Michelle and Greg Thomas, Sheryl and Kendall Arp, Richard Foels, Robert and Wendy Foels, Mark Foels, Michael Foels, Jennifer and John Dyson, Jeremy Grier, Curtis and Angela Grier, Andrea and Jeremy Goodrich and Christina and Bart Willis; 25 great-grandchildren and two stepgreat-grandchildren, Madison and Drew Thomas, Colby Heishman, Shianne, Tyieshia, Milo and Montana Arp, Lindsey, Emily, Jonathan and Cassie Foels, Derek, Peyton, Jessah and Caden Wilson, Addyson and Noah Dyson, Nathan, Kyle, Matthew, Tristan and Tanner Grier, Kimberly, Christopher and Kate Goodrich and Makayla and Jenna Tuttle, and four sisters, Bernice Papesh, Virginia McVay, Dorothy Walton and Elnora Schwab.

She was preceded in death by her husband, in January 2002; her parents; her twin sister, in infancy; an infant son, Richard; three sisters, Edna Kouba, Arilla Prichard and Irline Vileta, and two brothers, George and Charles Wilson.

The Williamsburg Journal Tribune, 12 Jul 2012, pg 11
Published in The Gazette July 6, 2012