Gertrude Fern (Smit) STADTLANDER

SMIT, STADTLANDER, JANSSEN, PROCTOR, BRACKLEIN, WENZEL, DEVRIES

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/19/2010 at 10:55:07

MESERVEY - Gertrude Fern (Smit) Stadtlander (fondly known as Gert), 73, of 93 Minnesota St., went to be with her Heavenly Father on Monday (March 19, 2001) at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit, Mason City. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. today at the First Reformed Church, Meservey, with the Rev. Rodney Meester officiating. Burial at the Meservey Cemetery will follow the services. Visitation was held on Wednesday at Garry-Roberts-Murphy-Schaaf-Grarup Funeral Home in Meservey. In lieu of flowers, her family asks that memorials be given to Hospice of North Iowa or Opportunity Village in Clear Lake.

Gert was born Nov. 4, 1927, near Latimer to Dick and Ettie (Janssen) Smit. She attended country schools and then stayed home to help her dad raise her younger brothers and sisters after the illness and death of her young mother. Gert was united in marriage with Louis G. Stadtlander of Feb. 20, 1948, at the Zion Reformed Church parsonage in rural Sheffield. They made their home in Meservey. Their lives were richly blessed by six children. Gert loved life and especially loved family gatherings. She was a faithful member of the First Reformed Church of Meservey, the RCW, Meservey Legion Auxiliary and other organizations in the community, including the Golden Years Club. She babysat in her home for many years and enjoyed meeting people while working with Shirley at the Chit Chat Cafe.

Her generous and loving spirit will be missed by her family and a host of friends. They include her six children, Larry (Connie), Thornton, Shirley (Marty) Proctor, Thornton, Rich (Jennifer), Meservey, Beverly, Meservey, Dean (Renae), Clear Lake and Brenda (John) Bracklein, Oklahoma City, Okla.; eight grandchildren, Matthew (Janet) Proctor, Amy Proctor, Joshua Stadtlander, Rebecca Stadtlander, Brittany Bracklein, Chelsea Bracklein, Tyler Stadtlander and Alex Stadtlander; two great-grandchildren, Jordan Proctor and Spencer Proctor; two brothers, Willard (Arlene) Smit, Iowa Falls, and Dennis (Sue) Smit, Hampton; two sisters, Mildred (George) Wenzel, Belmond, and Esther (Al) DeVries, Sheffield; and many nieces and nephews. Gert was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Louis G., in 1982; her parents; and her stepmother, Bessie. Garry-Roberts-Murphy-Schaaf-Grarup Funeral Home.

Mason City Globe Gazette, Iowa
March 22, 2001