Geiken, Darlene Kay (1937-2017)

GEIKEN, TAPPER, ABBAS, PHILIPP, CARPENTER, GIMONDO, GRAVE, WALLACE, CRAMER, LANDE

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 6/2/2017 at 18:37:53

Darlene Kay Geiken
April 24, 1937 - March 31, 2017

Darlene Tapper Geiken was born on April 24, 1937, and passed from this life on March 31, 2017. The oldest child of Walter and Bessie (Abbas) Tapper, she grew up on her parents' farm southwest of Buffalo Center, attending country school until the eighth grade, and then graduating from Buffalo Center High School in 1954.

While riding the bus to high school, Darlene met her future husband, Don. She told of how he tied her boots together to the bus seat, and of how on their first date, Grandma Tapper met him at the door with a pan of potato peelings. If he had come a few seconds later and he would have gotten a potato peel shower.

Don and Darlene married on August 18, 1954, at the Ramsey Reformed Church. They, first, made their home in Buffalo Center, next in Osage, and then Swea City. In time, four daughters were born: Denise, Dixie, Dorilynn, and Donna. After the death of Don's father, they moved to the Geiken family farm near Buffalo Center. Don and Darlene farmed together for over fifty years. She could drive tractor, work cattle, and do all other chores on the farm with the best of them.

Darlene joked that she learned something new every decade. She learned to swim after she was 20, to ride horseback and water ski after age 30, to master the skills of a grandmother after 40, to work a computer after 50, to work at Fleetgard after 60, and to play Texas Hold'em after 70.

For several years, Don and Darlene wintered in Texas. She loved the warm temperatures, the activities in the Paradise Acres Park, and her new friends. In addition, she was able to spend a month in Alamo, Texas, this winter before being hospitalized.

Darlene was preceded in death by her husband Donald (2014), her parents, and her parents-in-law. She is survived by her daughters: Denise (Daryl) Philipp, Dixie (Jim) Carpenter, Dorilynn (Ron) Gimondo, and Donna (Geoff) Wallace; eight grandchildren: DeNae (Scott) Cramer; Andrea, Anthony (Ariel), and Austin Gimondo; Darci (Chris) Grave; Kelsey (Allen) Reger; and Andrew and Ashleigh Wallace; two great-grandchildren, Caden and Reagan Cramer; her sister Ardis (John) Lande; and her brothers: Ken (Arlene), Larry (Becky), and Bruce (Cindy) Tapper, as well as by nieces, nephews, and her special friends, Les and Karen Kiewiet.

Having been confirmed at the Ramsey Reformed Church, rural Titonka, she remained a loyal member there right up until her death. Memorial Services for Darlene Kay Geiken will be held Saturday, April 8, 2017, at the Ramsey Reformed Church, rural Titonka, at 10:30 AM. Her family will greet friends beginning at 9:30 AM at the church. Inurnment will follow at 1:00 PM at Graceland Cemetery, Buffalo Center. In lieu of flowers the family requests contributions be made to the Ramsey Reformed Church in memory of Darlene.

Oakcrest Funeral Services, 2017.

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