Margaret Irene Hale Dehn 1919-2007

DEHN, ATKINSON, HALE

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 5/7/2008 at 21:10:00

Sioux City Journal
Woodbury Co., Iowa

Onawa, Iowa-Margaret Irene Hale Dehn, 87, of West Branch, Iowa, formerly of Onawa, died Wednesday, Oct 17, 2007, at Crestview Nursing and Rehab Center in West Branch, of complications from Parkinson’s Disease.

Services will be 2 p.m. today at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Onawa, with Pastor Mary Wells officiating. Burial will be in Onawa Cemetery. There will be no visitation. Arrangements are under the direction of the Rush Family Care Service in Onawa.

Margaret was born November 30, 1919, on a farm west of Onawa, the daughter of Oren and Mildred (Atkinson) Hale. She moved to Blencoe, Iowa, with her family in 1924, where her parents ran a dairy farm. She attended elementary and high school in Blencoe, graduating from Blencoe Consolidated School in 1937. She attended Iowa State College of Science and Technology, Drake University and Morningside College, from which she graduated in 1965.

She married Frank Dehn on March 20, 1943, in Omaha, Nebr., while Frank was serving in the U.S. Army. After his discharge from the military, they moved to a farm in Section 15 of Franklin Township south of Onawa, where they lived until their retirement in 1982, when they moved to Onawa. Margaret moved to West Branch in 2006.

Margaret chose teaching as her lifelong profession, teaching at Sioux Center in 1943, Onawa from 1945 to 1947, Blencoe from 1961 to 1962, and at West Monona from 1962 to 1982. Her love of children and dedication to education have always been evident. She was also an accomplished artist and was invited to show one of her paintings at the Joslin Museum in Omaha in 1963.

She was a member of Blencoe United Church of Christ, First Congregational United Church of Christ in Onawa, Queen Esther Chapter 222 Order of Eastern Star, Chapter EF of P.E.O., Onawa, Women’s Club and American Legion Auxiliary Post 665.

Survivors include two sons, Franklin Bradley Dehn of Rapid City. S.D., and Richard William Dehn and his wife, Elizabeth of Iowa City, Iowa; and grandchildren, Brady Dehn and his wife, Kelly of Las Vegas, Nev., Karla Jo Dehn of Hill City, S.D., Jonathan Dehn, Clare Dehn and Kelly Dehn of Iowa City, Iowa and Michael Dehn of Beloit, Wis.

She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; a brother, Harold C. Hale; and a sister, Betty Lou Claussen.