Elsie June (Peterson) CRABTREE

CRABTREE, PETERSON, HAMILTON, MINNIER, BUENNEKE, LOCKHART, STOPPELMORE

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little
Date: 4/5/2010 at 13:37:42

ANKENY, IA -Elsie J. Crabtree, 86, of Ankeny, formerly of Sheffield, passed away Wednesday (March 31, 2010) at her home in Ankeny. Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 6 at First United Methodist Church, Sheffield, with Pastor Janet Reickhoff-Faris presiding. Interment will be at Hillside Cemetery, Sheffield. Visitation will be from 5 until 8 p.m. today at Retz Funeral Home in Sheffield.

Elsie June Crabtree was born June 19, 1923 near Popejoy, Iowa a daughter of Charles and Jane (Hamilton) Peterson. She graduated from the Popejoy Public School and Ellsworth College. Elsie taught in the Lytton Public School for two years. On Aug. 12, 1947 Elsie was united in marriage with Theodore "Ted" Crabtree. She became a constant help on the family farm and a devoted mother to their children. She always had an enormous garden and canned tomatoes, beans and the rest of the produce. Her love for children strengthened her as she taught kindergarten at the Methodist Church in Sheffield for 25 years. As a family they had many driving vacations with a station wagon full of kids. Most of the vacations were centered around a family reunion or visiting distant relatives. They also had 20 summers spent at a cabin at the Clear Lake Methodist Camp where extended family members would spend the week together. Generosity described Elsie. There was always enough food for visitors, even those that arrived just before a meal. Her family sponsored seven exchange students and they were welcomed by family. She also was one of the world's last great letter writers. She regularly wrote to hundreds of friends, even keeping up with the exchange students in distant lands. She loved to read and when her eyesight failed she enjoyed books on tape.

Her surviving family includes her children: Steve Crabtree; Larry (Elaine) Crabtree; Mary (Dick) Minnier; Debbie (Ken) Buenneke; Peggy Jonas; David (Eileen) Crabtree; John (Lynn) Crabtree; Laura (Robert) Lockhart; and son-in-law, Sterling Stoppelmore; 28 grandchildren; 6 great grandchildren. Elsie is also survived by her sister, Esther; and brothers, Eugene and Erwin. She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Ted Crabtree, in 1999; daughter, Diane Stoppelmore; and her sisters, Evelyn and Elva. Retz Funeral Home, Sheffield.

Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa
April 5, 2010