Ione Evelyn (Skrovig) ALVESTAD

ALVESTAD, SKROVIG, SWENSON, BUHLER, LARSON, MEYER, KOOP, WAGNER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/24/2008 at 08:51:18

Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, IA
July 17, 2008

Ione Alvestad, 97, Williams

Ione Alvestad, of Williams, went to be with her Lord on July 13, 2008. She had been residing at a care facility in Williams, Iowa. Memorial services are 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, 2008, at Bethesda Lutheran Church in Jewell. Burial will be at the Rose Grove Cemetery south of Williams.

Ione Evelyn (Skrovig) Alvestad was born on November 13, 1910, at Radcliffe, Iowa, the eldest daughter of Iver and Emma (Swenson) Skrovig. She received her early schooling in the rural schools in the Williams and Ellsworth areas. Ione graduated from McCallsburg High School in 1929. After graduation she worked for a time at Ames, Iowa. In 1932, she went to the University of Northern Iowa at Cedar Falls and started teaching rural schools in Hamilton and Wright counties. Ione loved teaching and was the last one to teach at the Liberty Center rural school between Jewell and Blairsburg. In 1940, Ione married LeVerne Alvestad at her parents' home near Dows, Iowa, and they started farming south of Liberty Center, where they lived for 20 years. In 1960 they moved to the Alvestad Farm in Rose Grove Township south of Williams. They had two sons, Gene and Lonnie ("the best boys in the world" according to Ione). Her house was "Grand Central Station" and everyone enjoyed coming over to eat and visit. Ione loved coffee, toast, and chocolate. She was often heard to say, "Be nice!" Ione had a deep faith, which sustained her throughout her life. Ione was an active member of the Country Culture Club (CCC) at Liberty Center, one of the earliest neighborhood clubs to be organized. She taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, sang in the church choir and the County Chorus, and was a member of the Neighbor Club in Rose Grove.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Esther (Babe) Buhler, Berneda Larson, Joyce Meyer and Treva Koop; and brothers, Sylvanus (Sonny) and Truman (Buddy. To cherish her memory are her husband, LeVerne; sons, Gene (Jan) of Williams and Lonnie of Texas; granddaughter, Krista (Bill) Wagner; great grandchildren, Austin and Macie; sisters-in-law, Mary Alvestad and Doris Skrovig; brother-in-law, Louis Buhler; and a number of cousins, nieces and nephews.