Vivian Josephine (Metz) Kleinschmidt
KLEINSCHMIDT, METZ, BULGER, JARDINE, WALSH, STUMPF
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 5/1/2020 at 11:19:14
Vivian Josephine (Metz) Kleinschmidt 90, of Iowa City passed away peacefully on Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City.
Friends may pay their respects to Vivian on Sunday, April 19, 2020 from 2:00 until 3:00 PM, allowing 10 people in the funeral home at a time to follow the COVID-19 regulations. You may also pay your respects by driving under the front canopy at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service in Iowa City, where cards and memorials will be received from 3:00 until 4:00 PM. Please follow the signage that will assist in guiding you. A private Mass of Christian Burial will be held Monday, April 20, 2020 at 10:00 AM at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Iowa City, with a graveside committal held at 11 AM at St. Joseph Cemetery in Iowa City. The funeral procession will leave St. Mary's Catholic Church at 10:45 AM. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, friends must stay in their vehicles at the church and cemetery. In lieu of flowers, her family would suggest a donation to the Regina Foundation or Newman Catholic Student Center.
Vivian was born on September 14, 1929 in Washington County, Iowa, the daughter of Simon and Hortense Metz. As a child she attended Oak Grove School. She was number 7 out of 13 children. Her Grandmother Bulger and Aunt Ethel Bulger helped raise her. She stayed with Aunt Ethel during some of her childhood summers at the St. Anthony Rectory in Davenport, Iowa, where her great uncle Father Bulger was a priest.
She graduated from St. Mary High School, Riverside, Iowa in 1948. Two weeks after graduation her family home burned to the ground. Vivian spent the next year taking care of her younger brothers and sisters and working at a turkey factory. She moved to Iowa City with her childhood friend Mary. They roomed together at a boarding house where they met fellow boarder Leona Buchmayer. Leona introduced Vivian to her brother John Kleinschmidt during April of 1950. Vivian and John’s first date was ice skating. They married on October 16, 1950 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Riverside, Iowa.
Vivian worked at the University, Mercy and VA Hospitals in Iowa City as a Nursing Assistant for many years. She volunteered and worked at the Iowa City Public Library until she retired in 1999. After her retirement, she took care of her husband John until his death in 2016.
She had spectacular flower gardens. She enjoyed cooking pies for her family and for church bazaars. She enjoyed having her grandchildren and great grandchildren visit. She was an active member of St Marys’ parish in Iowa City for 70 years. Vivian and John volunteered at coffee hour and Vivian washed church linens for the Altar and Rosary Society.
Some of her favorite pastimes were drawing, sewing, needlepoint, embroidery and reading. In recent years she was “sharp as a tack” at playing bid euchre with her children.
Survivors include her four children: twins, Jane Jardine (Henry) and James Kleinschmidt (Charlotte), John F. Kleinschmidt (Sheila) and Jeff Kleinschmidt, 6 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren; 2 brothers John and Jim Metz and 2 sisters Ann Walsh and Donna Stumpf.
Vivian was preceded in death by her husband, John, her parents, brothers Urban, Elmer, Melvin, Edward, and Jerry and sisters Gladys, Dorothy and Mary Angela who died as an infant.
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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