IMLAU, Arlene 1920-2005

IMLAU

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 8/2/2005 at 19:31:13

Arlene Juliette Imlau, 85, of Northwood died Tuesday (July 26, 2005) at the Lutheran Retirement Home in Northwood.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Sion Lutheran Church, 4527 Finch Ave., rural Lake Mills, with the Rev. Kevin L. Mackey officiating. Burial will be in the Sion Lutheran Church Cemetery, rural Lake Mills.

Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Conner Colonial Chapel, 1008 First Ave. S. in Northwood, and one hour prior to service time on Saturday at the church.

The family of Arlene Juliette Imlau has requested that memorial contributions be made to the Worth County Historical Society, Lutheran Retirement Home, Sion Lutheran Church, or to Hospice of North Iowa in her memory.

Arlene Juliette (Harmon) Imlau was born in Brookfield Township in Worth County, Iowa, on Jan. 15, 1920, the daughter of Julius and Angie (Holstad) Harmon. She grew up on a farm near Tenold, Iowa. She was confirmed at Sion Lutheran Church.

In 1939, she graduated from Kensett High School, and in 1944 she graduated with a home economics degree from Iowa State University. Arlene taught home economics in Indianola, Iowa.

She was united in marriage to William F. (Bill) Imlau on June 1, 1947, and moved to her family farm in 1951.

Arlene was a 4-H leader of the Brookfield Bonnie Belles, a member of Worth County Farm Bureau Women, ISU Alumni Board, Lutheran Retirement Home Auxiliary, Worth County Historical Society and a lifelong member of Sion Lutheran Church, Lake Mills, where she served as a Sunday school teacher and officer in circle and church women's group. Arlene was awarded a Community Betterment Award by the city of Northwood.

Homemaking, sewing and refinishing furniture were Arlene's forte. She was a food service worker at the Lutheran Retirement Home after her children left home.

Bill and Arlene celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1997, and moved to Northwood that same year.

Left to cherish her memory are her husband, Bill Imlau of Northwood; daughters, Mary Ellen Imlau of Des Moines, Carolyn Rippke and her husband, Paul, of Moville, Barbara Boggs and her husband, Bob, of San Diego, Calif., and Elaine Imlau of Des Moines; and a son, Bill A. Imlau of Northwood; her grandchildren, Eric Hall of Des Moines, Phil Rippke of Cedar Falls, Anne and Mark Rippke of Moville, and Rob and Rick Boggs of San Diego, Calif.; her sister, Lorraine Ludwig and her husband Henry; and family also survive her, as well as many cousins.

Her parents and a brother Roger Harmon preceded Arlene in death.

Source: Mason City Globe Gazette, July 27, 2005