Donna Jean (Schoen) Middle (1932-2019)
MIDDLE, SCHOEN, CHRISTENSEN, KLEIN, GRAYBILL, PEDEN, CARPENTER
Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 5/17/2021 at 16:53:11
From Rasmusson-Bacon Funeral Home & Crematory obituary, Nevada and Maxwell, Story County, Iowa:
Our beloved mom, Donna Jean (Schoen) Middle, 87 1/2, of Nevada, IA, passed away at her home on September 23, 2019, with loving family members by her side.
She was born to Floyd and Nellie (Christensen) Schoen on February 27, 1932 in Fairview, South Dakota.
Mom was born in a rural, high poverty area, one of seven children. Every Saturday, she and her siblings cleaned house and did laundry. Her assigned chore was the laundry, and it took a long time. She had to carry the water in, heat it on the stove, and fill the machine and the two rinsing tubs. After the clothes were washed, rinsed, and hung up to dry, she had to carry all the water in pails to dump outside. In the winter, she hung the clothes up on a clothesline strung across the room. On most Saturday nights, the kids got to go to a movie in town.
Mom’s mother died when Mom was six years old and her dad when she was 12. Her dad called her “Dee.” She didn’t know the origin of that nickname, but it might have been for the “D” in Donna. She completed her education through the eighth grade and her favorite subject was math; she loved numbers. Her favorite teacher was Mrs. Wells, her teacher in the 7th and 8th grades. Mrs. Wells treated all of her students fairly and really cared for them as people. Mom had been selected to be a basketball cheerleader for senior high, and one of her biggest regrets was not finishing high school. She was so proud that all of her children did.
She met Clarence Middle, recently home from serving in WWII, one evening when he was singing and playing the guitar along Main St. in Hudson, SD. Dad gave Mom her first kiss and he was her first Valentine, too. On their dates, they would drive around Hudson, park along the street and people watch. When Mom’s father was dying, he said to her, “Clarence will be able to take care of you.” After her father’s passing, she lived with her oldest brother, Don, and his wife, Lucille in Hawarden, South Dakota until Mom and Dad were married in 1948. They lived on a farm near Rock Valley, Iowa, where their first child, Joanne, was born. Our dad worked road and bridge construction and the family traveled to and lived where he worked. Our small family grew: Susan arrived in 1952, Merna in 1958, Rodney in 1959, and Brenda in 1960. In 1963, they decided it was in the family’s best interests to put down roots and so they moved the family to Ames, IA where they lived for 15 years while us five kids all finished high school. Empty Nesters after all those years, they moved to Lake City, IA in the fall of 1978, lived for two and a half years in Salt Lake City, UT, and then moved to Carroll, IA. A short time after Dad passed away in May, 1998, Mom moved to Nevada, IA where she lived until her passing.
Mom was preceded in death by our dad, Clarence; her brothers, Don and Floyd; her sisters Doris (deceased as infant), Betty, Beverly and Doris; her niece Bonnie Klein; her nephews Randy Klein, Rodney Klein, and Bradley Schoen.
Mom is survived by her five children: Joanne (spouse Victor) Graybill of South Jordan, UT; Susan Middle of Olympia, WA; Merna (spouse Mike) Peden of Evansville, IN; Rod Middle (partner Mary Osborne) of Ames, IA; and Brenda Middle (spouse Val Baughman) of Colorado Springs, CO. She is also survived by 11 beloved grandchildren and 10 cher-ished great-grandchildren, her dear sisters-in-law, Shirley Carpenter and Barbara Middle, and numerous treasured nieces and nephews. Our mom was so proud of her family and leaves behind beautiful memories.
Of her many accomplishments, her notable ones were the numerous accolades from employers and “Employee of the Month” awards, the commitment and hard work to complete her GED when she was 43 years old, the mastering of new technology and learning to make her way in this world as it kept changing. But, she would have said, her greatest accomplishment, her greatest joy, was her family. There was a reason that whenever there was a family event like a milestone birthday, graduation or wedding most of our large and spread-out family always made an effort to attend. The main reason was our mom. The matriarch of our family - our True North, she guided us with her example, her unconditional love, compassion, kindness, no-nonsense wisdom, and humor. She was always our greatest supporter, no matter what unfortunate mistakes we made along the way. And, as a friend put it, “She was fun; not woohoo kind of fun, but the kind that just made you enjoy being around her.” We will miss being around her.
Our mom liked to travel. When she was able, she was always up for a road trip, bus ride or plane ride to see her family. From Washington to Utah to Colorado to Indiana and New York State - or across town in Nevada, IA, she made countless trips to see her family. She also liked to explore different parts of the country. She visited Hawaii, Washing-ton, Oregon, Montana, Utah, Colorado, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Washington, DC, and New York. She marveled at the monuments in D.C. and the sheer number of taxi cabs on the streets of NYC. She so enjoyed the Caribbean cruise for her 70th birthday, the beach in Maui and the live country music shows in Branson. But most of all, she treasured the moments holding her new grandchildren - and then new great grandchildren, the feelings of pride at graduations, the tears and happiness of weddings, even the poignancy of the collective sorrow at funerals.
Even though she liked seeing family and new places, her heart was her home. At home, she enjoyed tending to her flowers. The flower beds at her house near the Elementary school in Nevada were a great source of pride. Neat, tidy, meticulously weeded, beautiful in bloom, she got such joy out of planning and planting her flowers. When she moved to her apartment, the flower beds out the back door were known as “Donna’s flowers.” She took on planting and tending to “her” flower bed. And in these last few years when she couldn’t do that work anymore, her great friends at the apartment complex planted the flowers for her to enjoy, and they watered and weeded them, too. Donna’s flowers.
Mom didn’t have a TV when she was growing up. She and Dad got a black and white TV when Joanne and Susan were young, and they watched the Lawrence Welk show. In recent years, TV was usually tuned to sports, “The Young and the Restless,” “The Price is Right,” “Let’s Make a Deal,” or the news. Her favorite thing to watch, though, was sports, especially football. She had her favorite teams but she also liked to cheer for the underdog or the team who was behind. She was so happy this fall when football started. She Googled the football schedule so she’d be sure not to miss a game.
A favorite activity was going to the Senior Center in Ames for their Thursday afternoon Bingo games. She was a regular - they all knew her, she knew the drill, had “her” seat, spent minutes picking out the best cards using a formula that seemed to work for her. The second to the last time she went to Bingo, she won two games! She was always so cool when she called BINGO, like “No big deal, I win all the time.” The Thursday before she passed away, she won one game. She drove her car to the Senior Center that day, happy to be behind the wheel and in charge. She was too tired to drive home and was content looking out the passenger window on the drive back along Old 30.
In accordance with Mom’s wishes, there won’t be a viewing or funeral service. Instead, immediate family and her friends will gather to remember her and celebrate the exceptional woman that she was. In lieu of flowers, a fitting way to honor our beloved mother would be to extend the same loving kindness she showed to the people in her life, to those in ours.
Rest with God, Mom, we miss you so much. We love you.
“Our mother will always be with us.
She’s the whisper of the leaves as we walk down the street,
she is the smell of certain foods we remember, flowers we pick,
the fragrance of life itself.
She’s the cool hand on our brow when we’re not feeling well.
She’s the sound of the rain that lulls us to sleep, the colors of a rainbow,
she is Christmas morning.
She is the place we came from, our first home,
and she’s the map we follow with every step we take.
She was our first love, our first friend, even our first enemy.
But nothing can separate us. Not time, not space, not even death.”
- Author Unknown
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Story Obituaries maintained by Mark Christian.
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