Rose (Etchen) LEWIS BELL

BELL, LEWIS, ETCHEN, EICHMEIER, GORDON, MARCHAND

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/2/2007 at 16:24:23

Mason City Globe-Gazette
March 18, 2006

BELMOND — Rose Bell, 110, a resident of the Belmond Health Care Center, formerly of Klemme, died peacefully Saturday (March 11, 2006) at the Belmond Health Care Center, where she had lived an active and vibrant life since January 2001. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, March 20, 2006, at Immanuel Reformed United Church of Christ, Klemme, with the Rev. Donna Buckman officiating. Burial will be in the Ell Township Cemetery, Klemme. Visitation will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Andrews Funeral Home, 528 E. Main St. in Klemme, and continue one hour prior to the services Monday at church. Those wishing to express their sympathies through a memorial to the family may send them in care of the family to Box 224, Belmond, IA 50421.

Rose Etchen was born to John and Elizabeth (Eichmeier) Etchen on Aug. 22, 1895, on a farm in Twin Lake Township, Hancock County. She was the fifth of six children. Rose attended rural schools through the eighth grade and spent much of her youth working on the farm where she grew up. Rose was united in marriage to Henry Lewis on Nov. 26, 1914, in Garner. Henry and Rose owned and worked Lewis Produce Store in Klemme together. After Henry (“Heinie”) died in 1944, Rose continued to operate the business herself until she sold the store to Fred Bell in 1946. Rose and Fred were married on Sept. 22, 1946. The couple continued to run the business until retirement in 1978. Rose was a hard worker throughout her entire life’s journey. She was a meticulous housekeeper and loved to garden. It was not uncommon to drive by her home in Klemme and find her cleaning the windows or weeding and working in her gardens, even though she was well over 100 years in age. Rose was an excellent cook and always enjoyed baking cookies and making sure there was something sweet to go with coffee when anyone stopped by for a visit. Her love for others continued to shine through even in her years at the care center where she was always there to greet the staff and other residents with a warm welcome and friendly smile. Rose made the best homemade chicken and noodles. It was a favorite with her grandchildren. Rose had done excellent crocheting and handcraft work and all of her family have heirlooms to enjoy and remember the fruits of her labor. Those who knew Rose during her life’s journey of more than 110 years will remember her as a hard working, caring and dignified lady who carried herself in a vibrant and meticulous manner until the very end of her life’s journey.

Those left to cherish the legacy of her life include her son, Duard Lewis, and wife, Mildred, of Logan, N.M.; two step-daughters, Julia Gordon of Rowan and Ruth Marchand of Clear Lake; one step-son, Frederick O. Bell, and wife, Lula, of Klemme; 12 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and 13 great-great-grandchildren; as well as numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; husbands, Henry and Fred; daughter, Eva Mae; a sister, Lillian; and four brothers, Louis, Albert, Fred and Jack. Andrews Funeral Home.