Gertrude Clara (HALM) ECKELS
HALM, ECKELS, FLOHRA, THOMPSON, EDWARDS, VERT, KILPATRICK, HILL
Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 3/21/2011 at 18:35:17
OBITUARY - GERTRUDE CLARA (HALM) ECKELS
July 21, 1913 ~ November 1, 2010Gertrude ECKELS, 97, of Lorimor, formerly of Thayer, died Monday, November 1, 2010 at Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston. Services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, November 4, 2010 at the Pleasant Valley Church south of Thayer. Pastor Dwayne Henrichs will officiate. Burial will be at the Murray Cemetery. Open visitation will be 2-8:00 p.m. Wednesday, with family receiving friends from 6 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Powers Funeral Home 612 N. Dodge in Afton. Memorials may be made to Pleasant Valley Church, south of Thayer. Online condolences can be under the obituary category at www.powersfh.com.
Gertrude Clara (HALM) ECKELS was born July 21, 1913 to Frank Robert HALM and Laura Ellen (FLOHRA) HALM on her parent's ranch outside of Morrison, Co. She graduated from Thayer High School and later got her teaching certificate from Parson's College in Fairfield, Iowa. She taught at a small country school house south of Thayer and at Ellston. She stayed with her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth HALM, in Tingley and rode her pinto horse, Rowdy, to school every day.
On April 17, 1938 Gertrude was united in marriage to James Starr ECKELS by E. F. THOMPSON, clergyman, at Pleasant Valley Church south of Thayer. They made their home on a farm south of Thayer where she raised her family and became a full time mother and homemaker.
Gertrude was a lifetime member of the Pleasant Valley Church, Eastern Star and Ladies' Aid. As a young wife and mother, she enjoyed the Friendly Circle and neighborhood card parties.
Gertrude is survived by; one son, Gary (wife Loretta) ECKELS of Murray; three daughters, Carol (husband Joseph) EDWARDS of Walden, Co., Dorothy VERT of Lorimor and Maxine (husband Jack) KILPATRICK of Lorimor; daughter in-law, Mary HILL of Afton; brother, Kenneth HALM of Thayer; 14 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by; her parents; her beloved sister, Mildred; baby sister, Charlotte; elder sister, Lucile; son in-law, Jerry VERT; husband, James in 1975 and the great tragedy of her life, her youngest child, Stephen in 1990.
SOURCE:Powers Funeral Home, Creston IA
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2011
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