KATHRYN BELLE FOX BURGER 1913 to 2010

BURGER, FOX, BUCKLEY, WHITACRE

Posted By: James Mincks (email)
Date: 1/5/2011 at 23:33:15

Kathryn, age 97, died at Spurgeon Manor on December 16 following a stroke. She was born at home in Dallas Center to Maeme Buckley Fox and Harry S. Fox on September 25, 1913.

She graduated from Dallas Center High School in 1931, spent a week at Drake University, and came home to work for her father in his insurance office. She married her classmate Simon C. Burger on August 22, 1936. They lived in Dawson and Adel before Si was called into the Navy in 1945. Following the war they made their home in Dallas Center, in a house Si built. Dallas Center was at the heart of her life.

Kathryn was a homemaker and worked beside Si in their tax preparation service for over 50 years.

Throughout her life, Kathryn had a variety of interests: golf, needlepoint, bridge, crossword puzzles, antiques, and music. She played the piano by ear. She enjoyed bird watching, and liked dogs.

Her life was centered around family and church. Her grandparents became charter members of the Dallas Center Methodist Church in 1870 and Kathryn joined on April 13, 1924.

Kathryn was preceded in death by her only sibling and great friend, Pete Fox in 1985, by Si in 1996, and by their only child, Mary Jo Burger Whitacre in 2005.

She is survived by her son-in-law, Larry Whitacre, of Pickerington, Ohio, by her only grandchild, Jennifer Jo Whitacre (Matthew) Kumin of Sherman Oaks, California, and by their children, Alex and Will, at home. Jennifer feels the main themes of her grandma's life are community, family, and love of nature.

Kathryn was an optimistic, strong, capable woman, overcoming almost any setback with grace and diginity.

The family will receive friends at the Iles Funeral Homes-Brandt Chapel in Dallas Center on Monday, December 20 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Services will be held at the Dallas Center United Methodist Church at 10:30 a.m., on Tuesday, December 21. Interment will follow at the Masonic Cemetery in Dallas Center.

Memorials may be directed to the Dallas Center United Methodist Church or the Roy R. Estle Memorial Library in Dallas Center.

taken from the Des Moines Sunday Register, central edition; December 19, 2010. page 8B, columns 1 & 2.