Spies,Margaret 1910-2015

SPIES, SMITH, PIERCE

Posted By: Mary Holub, volunteer (email)
Date: 2/4/2015 at 15:03:46

From: Le Mars Daily Sentinel, Thursday, January 29, 2015

Margaret Spies, of Merrill, entered eternal life on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015, at Unity Point-St. Luke's Hospital, in Sioux City, at the age of 105 years, 13 days.

Margaret Opal Pierce was born Jan. 14, 1910, in Georgetown, Neb., the daughter of Herman and Anna (Smith) Pierce.

When she was three months of age, she moved with her parents to their homestead near Wild Horse, Colo.

Though homesteading life was very difficult, she cherished these early years of her life. In 1917 the family returned to Nebraska and settled in Eddyville, Neb.

She graduated from Eddyville High School, then went on to attend Kearney State College, Greeley State College and Westmar College. She taught school in numerous one room schoolhouses in Nebraska and then moved to the Merrill area to teach school in a Plymouth County one room schoolhouse.

She so loved teaching and expanding minds of young people.

Margaret was united in marriage to Dwight Spies on June 21, 1941. They farmed the Spies family farm for 36 years before retiring and moving to Merrill in 1977.

Margaret was a member of the Merrill-Melbourne United Methodist Church. She taught Sunday School for many years, until she was age 99. She was very active in the work of the church through the Melbourne United Methodist Church Women.

She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Sergeant Floyd Tri-State Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation Inc., the Willard Family Association and the Hinton Garden Club.

She was a past member of the Plymouth County Iowa Board of Education. She served as a Plymouth County 4-H Committee Woman, and for many years was active in the Plymouth Township Farm Bureau Women's Group.

Survivors include a sister, Betty Lemmer, of Lexington, Neb.; two sisters-in-law, Doris Pierce, of Hastings, Neb., and Vivian Pierce, of Ontario, Ore.; and several nieces, nephews, cousins and many many friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Herman and Anna (Smith) Pierce; her husband Dwight on April 27, 1991; her husband's parents; four brothers, Ernest, Leo, Donald and Walter "Gene" Pierce; three sisters, Ruth Pierce, Eva Bell and Velma Rhodes; four sisters-in-law, Georgiana Pierce, Evelyn Pierce, Fern Spies and Ella Spies; three brothers-in-law, Ron Rhodes, Robert Lemmer and Leland "Shorty" Spies.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 2, at the Melbourne United Methodist Church, in rural Merrill, with the Rev. Kolleen Queener officiating. Interment will follow at Floyd Valley Cemetery, rural Hinton. Visitation with the family present will be after 3 p.m. Sunday at the Carlsen Funeral Home, in Le Mars, followed by a 5 p.m. prayer service.

Visitation will continue Monday morning at the church from 9:30 a.m. until service time.

Memorials can be directed to the Merrill-Melbourne United Methodist Church.