Lois Irene (Calvert) Rhinehart, 13 May 1929 - 23 Feb 2019

RHINEHART, CALVERT, NIESTEDT, PILKINGTON, VAVA, DAYTON, RUSSELL, BLANKENSHIP, SCOMA, RANOLPH, KITE, FAAS

Posted By: Sarah Witte (email)
Date: 1/13/2020 at 13:40:54

Lois Irene (Calvert) Rhinehart, age 89, of Grinnell and formerly of Victor, passed away peacefully on Saturday morning, February 23, 2019, at the Mayflower Community Health Care Center. She had been a resident of the Mayflower Health Center for two years where she received loving care.

Funeral services are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 28th, at the Smith Funeral Home in Victor with Rev. Jim Davis, Victor United Methodist Church, officiating. Organist will be Denise Baustian. Pallbearers will be her grandchildren, Matthew, Michael and Andrew Rhinehart, Joseph, James and Benjamin Vavak, Joel, John, Jason and Eric Dayton, Krista Scoma, and Daniel Randolph. Burial will be in the Victor Cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home with the family present from 5:00 to 7:00 Wednesday evening.

Memorial contributions may be designated to the Mayflower Community or the Victor Library.

Lois was born May 13, 1929, on the Niestedt family farm south of Victor, to Robert and Amelia (Niestedt) Calvert. The family moved to a farm east of North English, at an early age. She had many fond memories of growing up on the family farm and shared many stories of those early years.

She attended Crossroads Country School through the eighth grade. Following country school, she attended North English High School for her freshman and sophomore years. Upon entering her junior year of high school, her family moved to Victor where she graduated from Victor High School in 1947. During her high school years she was a member of the girls’ basketball team, playing 6 on 6 in which she excelled. The summer of 1947, Lois attended Iowa Teacher’s College in Cedar Falls, to obtain her teaching certificate to teach at a country school. In the fall of 1947, she taught at Lincoln #2 in Lincoln Township, south of Victor for one school year.

On May 23, 1948, Lois Irene Calvert was united in marriage to Carl Lester Rhinehart of Victor, at the Victor United Methodist Church. She continued as a country school teacher in the fall of 1948 at Honey Creek #7 in Honey Creek Township, north of Victor for one school year. She and her husband made their home in Victor, where they resided for 46 years. They raised four children in Victor where she was an active member of the community.

She worked for the family business, Rhinehart’s, for over 35 years. As a member of the Victor Iowa Methodist Church, she was a long time Sunday school teacher, a member of the Ruth Circle, and helped with the yearly Church Bazaar. She also was a long time 4-H leader of the Victor Livewires.

Lois was very talented and creative and spent her time painting, sewing, quilting, refinishing furniture, crocheting, and creating many craft items. She thoroughly enjoyed attending oil painting, ceramics, and pottery classes. Lois later served on the Victor Public Library board.

Lois and Carl traveled throughout the United States with their children every summer. In 1994, she and Carl moved to Grinnell. While living in Grinnell she served as a painting instructor with Caring Adults, was a reader with the Head Start preschool, and was a member of the Jewel Box Quilt Guild.

Lois is preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Amelia (Niestedt) Calvert, four brothers, Oliver, Milo, Marvin, and Arthur Calvert, and one sister, Helen (Calvert) Pilkington.

She is survived by her husband, Carl Rhinehart of Grinnell, one son, Lester Rhinehart (Susan) of Prospect, Kentucky, and three daughters, Deanna Vavak (Leslie), Elkhorn, Nebraska, Connis Dayton (John) of Grinnell, and Christine Russell (Rob) of Ankeny.

She was blessed with 12 grandchildren and loved them to the moon and back, Matthew Rhinehart (April) of Louisville, Kentucky, Michael Rhinehart (Erin) of Springboro, Ohio, Andrew Rhinehart (Laura) of Louisville, Joseph Vavak (Kate) of Omaha, Nebraska, James Vavak (Tina) of Croton on the Hudson, New York, Benjamin Vavak (Ashley Blankenship) of Papillion , Nebraska, Joel Dayton of Fort Worth, Texas, John C. Dayton (Erin) of Mitchellville, Jason Dayton (Liz) of Beatrice, Nebraska, Krista Scoma (Jeff) of Chicago, Eric Dayton (Emma) of Brooklyn, New York, and Daniel Randolph (Nicole Kite) of San Rafael, California. Her two sisters, Betty Faas (Ron) of Santa Maria, California and Mildred Miller (Frisbie) of Omaha, Nebraska, her sister-in-law’s, Elaine Roberts of Victor and Shirley Calvert of Rocky Comfort, Missouri.

Her special joys were her 10 great-grandchildren, Emelia, Everett, Rylee, Wrigley, Avonlea, Jacob, Lillian, Alexander, Milan and Niam; and many nieces and nephews. “See you later alligator, after while crocodile.”

Smith Funeral Home website, an abbreviated version published in The Gazette on February 27, 2019