Ethel Mae Jessen 1918-2003

JESSEN, SLATER, SAND

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/7/2008 at 00:33:40

Sioux City Journal
Tuesday, July 01, 2003

MAPLETON, Iowa -- Ethel M. Jessen, 85, of Mapleton died Thursday, June 26, 2003, at a Sioux City hospital.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. John's United Methodist Church in Mapleton, with the Rev. Bob Fritzmeier officiating. Burial will be in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Mapleton. Visitation will begin at 2 p.m. today, with a prayer service at 7:30 p.m., at Armstrong Funeral Home in Mapleton.

Ethel Mae Jessen was born May 8, 1918, at Danbury, Iowa, the daughter of George and Emily Gertrude (Slater) Sand. She grew up and was educated in the Anthon and Oto, Iowa, area.
On Nov. 27, 1935, Ethel was united in marriage to Raymond Eldon Jessen at the Methodist parsonage in Anthon. The couple then lived on a farm north of Danbury until 1947, when they moved to a farm east of Mapleton. They continued to reside there until 1976, when they moved into Mapleton. Raymond died Dec. 25, 1982. Ethel continued to live in her home in Mapleton until the time of her death.

She was a member of St. John's United Methodist Church in Mapleton as well as United Methodist Women. She was also a member of the Birthday Club and served as volunteer at Mapleton Heights Nursing Home and the Meals on Wheels Program. She loved to play cards and truly enjoyed opportunities to go dancing.

Those survivors left to cherish Ethel's memory include a daughter and her husband, Jane and Ray Isom of Princeton, Iowa; three sons and their wives, Roger and Marlene Jessen of Danbury, Marvin and Vickie Jessen of Sioux City, and Larry and Mary Jessen of Mapleton; 19 grandchildren; 41 great-grandchildren; a brother and his wife, Leonard and Evelyn Sand of Cherokee, Iowa; a sister, Ellen Prophaska of Palmer, Neb.; and a special friend, Mike Kluver of Mapleton.

In addition to her husband, Ethel was preceded in death by her parents; a daughter and son-in-law, Jean and Verdean Skow; a grandson, Steven Isom; brothers, Elmer, Alfred and Ralph Sand; and sisters, Lena Hinkel, Mary Lister, and two sisters in infancy.