Wallace, Mrs. Kenneth (Elva) - 1907-2001

WALLACE, REIMERS, ROHDE

Posted By: Linda Vander Linden-Volunteer (email)
Date: 10/11/2011 at 11:42:33

Northwest Iowa Review March 10, 2001

Rock Rapids - Elva Wallace, 93, Rock Rapids, died Thursday, March 1, at Merrill Pioneer Community Hospital in Rock Rapids.

Services were Monday, March 5, at Congregational United Church of Christ in Rock Rapids, with the Rev. Lynne Bisson officiating. Burial was at Riverview Cemetery in Rock Rapids, under the direction of Roste Funeral Home in Rock Rapids.

Elva Wallace, daughter of Otto J. & Ella (Rohde) Reimers, was born March 29, 1907, near Rock Rapids in Lyon County. She grew up in the area and graduated from Rock Rapids High School in 1923. After two years at Morningside College in Sioux City, she taught in a rural school for two years. She then returned to Morningside and received a bachelor's degree in 1929, with a major in music and a minor in English.

After teaching in Radcliffe and Aplington, she married Kenneth M. Wallace on June 22, 1934, in Rock Rapids. From 1934 to 1945 they moved 12 times in six Midwestern states, where he was employed as a civil engineer or government, construction projects for locks, dams, bridges, factory buildings and landing ships.

After returning to Rock Rapids, she taught piano and was the church organist for more than 30 years. She had hundreds of students, and often as many as 40 at a time. Her family fondly remembers Elva receiving many Christmas gifts from her students. It was hard for her family members to wait while she opened them all. She often was asked to be a accompanist for high school students' music contests, a request she always honored and continued doing so long after her own daughters had graduated from high school.

She enjoyed anything musical and was a faithful supporter of the musical events within the school and community.

She fell and broke her hip approximately a month ago. Following surgery, she was admitted to Lyon Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rock Rapids.

She was a member of Congregational United Church of Christ, Lyon County Health Council, Eastern Star and P.E.O., in which her mother was a charter member of the local chapter.

She also was active in the founding of the Lyon County Historical Society and Golden Age Club. She was honored as parade marshal for the annual Heritage Days celebration in 1984.

Survivors include her husband, Kenneth Wallace of Rock Rapids, two daughters, Audrey and Richard Putney of Estes Park, CO, and Margo and Robert Conrad of Vancouver, WA, and four grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents.