Elaine M. (Sturges) THOMPSON

THOMPSON, ZIEGLER, STURGES, DOXTAD, STEIL, GEIGER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/31/2007 at 09:41:46

IDA GROVE - Elaine M. Thompson, 70, of Ida Grove, died unexpectedly on Wednesday (Feb. 26, 2003) at her home. Memorial services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, at the First United Methodist Church in Ida Grove with the Rev. Marvin Lindley officiating. Inurnment will follow in the Ida Grove Cemetery. Friends may call from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday at Christensen-Huffman Funeral Home in Ida Grove with the family present from 6 to 8 p.m. The body has been cremated. Memorials may be directed to BC-IG Scholarship Foundation and the Ida Grove Rec Center.

Born on Sept. 12, 1932, in Rockwell, Elaine was the daughter of Ludd and Stella (Ziegler) Sturges. She married W.D. "Whitey" Thompson at the Baptist Church in Rockwell on May 31, 1953. Elaine taught in Dows, from 1952-1955, and earned her bachelor of arts degree in education in 1965 from Buena Vista College in Storm Lake. In 1955, she and Whitey made their home in Ida Grove, where Elaine taught first grade from 1965-1994. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Ida Grove, enjoyed teaching Sunday school and Bible school, and also volunteered as Sunday school secretary. She helped implement a Talented and Gifted program at Ida Grove Elementary School, and was president of the Ida Grove Teacher's Association. She was honored with a nomination for Iowa Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 1984-85. Elaine also served as a board member of Horn Memorial Hospital and the BC-IG Scholarship Foundation, and was a member of the advisory council of the Area IV Agency on Aging.

Survivors include two daughters, Deb Thompson of Prior Lake, Minn., and Julie Doxtad and husband, Daniel, of Galva; four grandsons, James, Matthew, Lucas and David Doxtad; a brother and his wife, Don and Bev Sturges, of Hudson, Fla.; a sister and her husband, Darlene and Alan Steil of Charles City; and two sisters-in-law, Shirley and her husband, Dr. Richard Geiger of Cedar Rapids, and Janet Sturges of Murrrietta, Calif. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Whitey, in 1995, and a brother, Ralph Sturges. Arrangements are under the direction of Christensen-Huffman Funeral Homes, Ida Grove.

Mason City Globe Gazette
March 1, 2003.