Harryman, Ethel I. (Young) 1908-2004

HARRYMAN, YOUNG, OFFILL

Posted By: Barbara Hug (email)
Date: 3/15/2005 at 09:01:55

Newton (IA) Daily News, Monday, December 13, 2004

DOUDS -- Ethel Irene Harryman, 96, of Douds, formerly of Jasper County, died Friday, Dec. 10, 2004, at the Van Buren County Hospital in Keosauqua.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at the Christ United Methodist Church in Douds.

Visitation will be held Tuesday from 2 to 8 p.m. at Pedrick Funeral Home in Douds, where the family will be present from 3 to 4 p.m. and again from 7 to 8 p.m. A P.E.O. Memorial Service will be held at 6:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be directed to Christ United Methodist Church of Douds, the Van Buren County Memorial Hospital of Keosauqua or to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

The daughter of Bolin and Maude (Offill) Young, she was born in rural Kellogg. She attended Pleasant View School in Jasper County and graduated from Newton Senior High School in 1926. She graduated in 1931 from the University of Iowa with a bachelor of arts degree in music and English literature. During her time of study, she also attended DePaul University in Chicago and received extra training in piano. While a student at the university, she sewed and mended for the linen department of the hospital and also typed thesis papers for graduate students. She began teaching music in 1931 at Iowa public schools in Fairbank, Blairstown, Delhi and Jordan. She married Harold E. Harryman on June 30, 1936, in Prairie City. They resided in Cedar Falls until 1941, when they moved to the Harryman family homestead near Douds. She taught in the Douds school and gave private piano lessons in her home for many years.

In 1952, the family moved to Milton to serve the Methodist churches at Milton and Lebanon. Together she and her husband served churches in Cantril, Mt. Sterling, Milton, Lebanon, Ames, Seymour, Promise City and Newton. They retired in 1974 to their home in Douds. During those years, Mrs. Harryman continued as a substitute teacher. She and her husband wintered in Palm Bay, Fla., for nearly 25 years.

She organized the first combined choir for the Douds-Leando Methodist churches and directed the choir for many years. She was a member of the Christ United Methodist Church in Douds. She was longtime member of the United Methodist Women and held offices at the district level. She was a 51-year member of P.E.O., a member of the Van Buren County Retired Teachers' Association and the Van Buren County Genealogy Society. She authored four books of family history, which won her acclaim from the Library of Congress for the content and composition of her books. She enjoyed reading and needlework and crocheting.