Cranston, Dorritt M. (Shaw) 1911-2004

CRANSTON, SHAW, LUNT, GRIMES

Posted By: Barbara Hug
Date: 3/17/2005 at 13:05:37

Newton Daily News, Newton, IA, Wednesday, September 29, 2004

DES MOINES -- Dorritt M. Cranston, 93, of Des Moines, formerly of Newton, died Monday, Sept. 27, 2004, at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines.

Funeral services will be held Friday at 10:30 a.m. at the Congregational United Church of Christ in Newton with the Rev. Michael Dack and the Rev. David Raymond, retired pastor, officiating. Burial will be at Newton Memorial Park Cemetery in Newton. Wallace Family Funeral Home in Newton is handling arrangements.

Friends may call after 5 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home, where the family will greet friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Memorials will be accepted to the donor's choice and may be left at the funeral home or at the church the morning of the service.

The daughter of John S. and Genevieve C. (Lunt) Shaw, she was born April 30, 1911, in Granville. She grew up in the Granville and New Sharon areas and graduated from New Sharon High School in 1929. She lived in Newton for 67 years prior to moving to Des Moines three years ago. On Feb. 28, 1935, she married Bert Cranston in Oskaloosa.

Mrs. Cranston was a homemaker. For 50 years she and her husband lived on several of the Maytag Dairy Farms, and she would cook meals for the farm hands. She was a member of the Congregational United Church of Christ in Newton, had been the organist for Wittemberg Church in rural Newton and played piano with local bands for dances in New Sharon and Newton. She also played piano at many area nursing homes and played for many weddings and funerals.

Survivors include two sons and daughters-in-law, Mel and Shirley Cranston of Fayetteville, Ark., and Edward and Jane Cranston of North Liberty; a daughter and son-in-law, Sherry and Reggie Grimes of Johnston; eight grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, two sisters and four brothers.