Beverly Maxine (Smith) Hildebrand (2019)

HILDEBRAND, SMITH

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 9/12/2024 at 13:36:12

Cremation Society of Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa
January 2019

Beverly “Bev” Maxine Smith Hildebrand was born in Winterset, Iowa on October 5, 1932. She graduated from Winterset High School in 1950 and Iowa Methodist School of Nursing in 1953 as a Registered Nurse.

She married Richard “Dick” Hildebrand on September 5, 1952 while he was serving in the U.S. Navy. Bev worked at Methodist Hospital until late 1953 when she and Dick moved to Yorktown, VA and then to Charleston, SC where she worked at Roper Hospital. The two moved to Des Moines, IA in 1955 after Dick’s discharge and then to Walnut, IA in March 1962 where they lived for 40 years until moving to Atlantic, IA in 2002.

Bev was very active in her children’s lives and activities as they were growing up, taking on leadership roles with scouting organizations and school athletics. Bev was wonderful at organizing parties, devising craft projects, and creatively designing delicious cupcakes and other room mother treats. She was an avid knitter and spent an hour each weekday morning with friends from the neighborhood chatting and laughing over coffee while they shared knowledge and joy of needlecrafts. Many of her handknit hats, scarves, and mittens were part of Walnut’s Peace United Church of Christ Mitten Tree which were collected annually for local homeless shelters. Bev’s work in the church extended beyond the Mitten Tree, working with friends in Sewing Circle to create beautiful handstitched quilts, putting together layette sets for new mothers, and sewing school bags and filling them with supplies for each new school year. Peace UCC was in important part of Bev’s life, and she enjoyed serving on the Church Council, Alter Guild, and Women’s Fellowship Leadership in addition to her work in Sewing Circle.

Bev and Dick loved spending time together with their family in the great outdoors. Summer vacations were most often a trip to the Rocky Mountains, or later to Montana to visit grandchildren. They also found fun closer to home bicycling and fishing at Prairie Rose Lake, bird watching at Hitchcock Nature Center or camping and hiking at many of the other local state parks. Summertime was filled with churning homemade ice cream and games of badminton with neighbors in the back yard. Bev continued to enjoy short outings to old haunts near Walnut and took one last trip to Montana in 2014.

In recent years while living in Atlantic, Bev took great pleasure in visits with her grandchildren and more recently her great-grandchildren who taught her how to give high fives and always made her smile. She maintained her hallmark determination, confidence, and self-assurance into her golden years, learning new skills like texting grocery orders to her daughter, and nurturing endeared lifelong hobbies; cooking, working crossword and jigsaw puzzles, going to lunch with friends, decorating for the holidays, and baking her signature Chex Mix.

Bev was preceded in death by her husband of 49 years, Dick, her son, Larry, and four brothers. She is survived by children: Rick (Pat Beebe) of Lewiston, MI; Brian (Gail) of Loganville, GA; Sharon (Amanda Bock) of Philadelphia, PA; and Sandy Lint, former daughter-in-law of Des Moines, IA: grandchildren Sadie, Jake, Brandon and Jason; step-grandsons Mike and Joe; great-grandchildren Hailey, Kinley, Lia, and Luca, as well as other relatives and friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Peace United Church of Christ in Walnut, IA. and Open Door Mission, Omaha, NE.

Memorial
 

Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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