Etta Bernice Dayton 1905-2001

DAYTON, FORCE, ROUDABUSH, MILLER, INNIS, MCILRATH, LINEWEAVER

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 9/14/2008 at 16:42:12

Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; May 28, 2001

ETTA BERNICE DAYTON

Etta Bernice Dayton, 95, of Grinnell died Thursday, May 24, at St. Francis Manor.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Smith Funeral Home, with the Rev. Bob Zirkelbach, pastor of Grace Community Church, officiating. Organist will be Marilyn Kriegel, and vocalists will be her grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be Clark, John, Mark, Jim, Tom, Garry, Bill and David Dayton; Chris Rutherford; and Daniel Whited. Honorary bearers will be Kim, Loretta, Carol, Teresa, Annette and Nancy Dayton; Mary Jo Seaton; Diane Kinseth; Louise Billmeyer; Ellen Hoffman; Barbara Boots; Sally Mills; Patricia Lang; Tammy Rutherford and Carrie Witt.

Burial will be in Brooklyn Cemetery.

The daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Catherine Bertie Roudabush Force, she was born Nov. 13, 1905, on the family farm near Brooklyn. She was raised in the Brooklyn area and was a 1924 graduate of Brooklyn High School. She later attended Drake University and became a licensed practical nurse.

She was married to Raymond Dayton in August 1924 in Brooklyn. They farmed west of Brooklyn until 1932 when they moved to a farm north of Malcom. They moved to Malcom in 1936.

Mrs. Dayton later moved to Grinnell where she owned and operated the Lone Elm Nursing Home until her retirement in 1972. She had been a resident of St. Francis Manor since March 2000.

She was a member of Grace Community Church, a former member of the Grinnell Area Chamber of Commerce and past president of the Iowa Nursing Home Association.

Surviving are her children, Marvin of Montezuma, Wayne of Grinnell, Eugene of New Sharon, Lawrence of Malcom and Roberta of Milan, Ill.; one sister, Daisy Miller of Grinnell; 25 grandchildren; 60 great-grandchildren; and 21 great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; one daughter, Lucille Innis; one brother, Earl Force; two sisters, Blanche McIlrath and Viola Lineweaver; and two grandchildren.

An E. Bernice Dayton Memorial Fund has been established.