Betty Jean Berning 1929 - 1997

BERNING, BUROW, DOWNING

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 8/12/2014 at 20:29:42

31 December 1997

MAPLETON, Iowa — Betty Jean Berning, 68, of Mapleton died Monday, Dec. 29, 1997, following a lengthy illness.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Mapleton, with the Rev. Edmund Tiedeman officiating. Burial will be in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery. Visitation will be after 3 p.m. Thursday, with a rosary at 3:30 p.m. by St. Mary's Guild and a vigil wake service at 7 p.m., at the Armstrong Funeral Home in Mapleton.

Mrs. Berning was born July 19, 1929, in Anthon, Iowa, the daughter of Phirman and Rachel (Burow) Downing. She graduated from Anthon High School in 1948.

She married Wilfred Berning on May 5, 1949, in Anthon. The couple lived in Anthon until 1970, when they moved to Mapleton.

She was employed at Maple Valley School and in the bakery department at the IGA Grocery Store.
She was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, St. Mary's Guild and the American Legion Auxiliary, where she was active in the Memorial Day Poppy Program. She volunteered at the West Central Food Pantry and the Meals on Wheels Program. She enjoyed quilting and crafts.

Survivors include her husband; a son and his wife, Mike and Lori of Anthon; three daughters and their husbands, Mary and Don Davis of Mapleton, Deb and Rick Swanger of Battle Creek, Iowa, and Barb and Dean Moser of Danbury, Iowa; 14 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; two sisters, Dorthy Smith of Mapleton and Mary Ellen and her husband, Abby Abbott, of Mountain View, Calif.; and a brother, Charles "Chub" Downing of Anthon.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Bernice and Gladys; and a granddaughter, Abby Davis.