Torwelle, Mabel J. (Mrs. Otto) 1896-1978

TORWELLE, VERRY

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke-volunteer
Date: 6/13/2021 at 20:33:35

Source: Hawarden Independent (3-16-1978)

Born: February 12, 1896
Died: March 3, 1978

Mrs. Mabel Julia Torwelle, 82, of Lynwood, California died Friday, March 3 at Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, California.

Memorial services were held at 2 P.M. Monday, March 6 at the Biby and Belyea Funeral Home in South Gate, California. Burial will be in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery, Ireton, Iowa with the Dow Funeral Home of Hawarden, Iowa in charge.

Mrs. Torwelle, the former Mabel Julia Verry, was born February 12, 1896 in Wahpeton, North Dakota and moved to Wessington Springs, South Dakota as a child. After graduating from high school she taught school in the Wessington Springs area for several years. She married Otto C.E. Torwelle on May 29, 1919 at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They farmed near Ireton until Mr. Torwelle’s death in 1928 when she moved to Hawarden. She worked at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. during the World War II. After the war she moved to Lynwood, California. She was a practical nurse in the Los Angeles area for many years, caring for mothers and their newborn babies.

Mrs. Torwelle will be remembered for the Annual Hawarden Picnics she held at her home in Lynwood on the last Sunday in October for former residents of the Hawarden area living in or near Los Angeles, Hawarden visitors in California and her many friends. Twenty-eight of the annual picnics were held, the last one in October 1977.

Survivors include a daughter, Dr. Beverly Torwelle Backus of Bethesda, Maryland; a son, R. Dean Torwelle, formerly with the United States Air Force, now completing law school in Washington, D.C.; two grandsons; three great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Mrs. Agnes Verry Norman of Gardena, California and Mrs. Alice Verry Titus Sharon Springs, Kansas.