Grace (Koenen) PALS

PALS, KOENEN, MEINTS, VANHORN, BELL, LEHMAN, OBERHELMAN, JOHNSON, SUNTKEN, PALLS, WIEMANN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/30/2010 at 18:22:28

Mason City Globe Gazette, Iowa
June 30, 2010

BELMOND, IA — Grace (Koenen) Pals, 97, of Belmond passed away Saturday (June 26, 2010) at the Rehabilitation Center of Belmond. Funeral services for Grace Pals will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 1, at the First Reformed Church in Meservey with Pastor Philip Arnold officiating. Burial will take place in the Meservey cemetery. Visitation for Grace Pals will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. today at Dugger Funeral Home, 111 Luick’s Lane S. in Belmond, and will continue one hour prior to services on Thursday at the church.

Grace was the oldest of six children born to Jake K. and Minnie (Meints) Koenen on Dec. 27, 1912. On Feb. 26, 1935, Grace was united in marriage to Bert Henry Pals at the First Reformed Church parsonage in Meservey. The Rev. Kampman performed the ceremony. Following their marriage the couple made their home and raised their family, farming most of the years on the family farm where Bert was born in Wisner Township. They retired in 1975 and in 1986 they moved into Meservey. Following a house fire they moved to Belmond in July 2000. Grace became a resident of the Rehabilitation Center of Belmond in July 2009. Grace was a faithful member of First Reformed Church in Meservey. Grace enjoyed being independent and taking care of her home and her yard. She was a hard working farmer’s wife and always had a garden and did lots of canning. She enjoyed baking sweet treats, especially pies. She loved mowing the yard with her John Deere lawn mower. The joy of her life was spending time with her family, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She enjoyed watching game shows on TV, playing bingo and looked forward to her daily visits on the phone with her brother, Jake, and his wife.

Those left to cherish her memory are two sons, Delbert and wife, Vivian, and Jerry and wife, Judy, all of Meservey; one daughter, Audrey VanHorn and her husband, Vernon, of Latimer; seven grandchildren, Joleyne (Bill) Bell, Jody (Luther) Lehman, Joann (Dan) Oberhelman, Robert (Barb) VanHorn, Darwin (Koreen) VanHorn, Justin (Jen) VanHorn, and Rick (Kim) Johnson; 15 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; brother, Jake Koenen and wife, Mavis, of Meservey; brother-in-law, Jesse Suntken, of Belmond; sister-in-law, Ruth Pals, of Belmond; and several other nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents, husband, Bert in 2002; two infant sons, Eugene Edward in 1944 and Lynn Ray in 1951; grandson, Alan Johnson; two brothers, Arthur and Leland Koenen; two sisters, Tena (Mrs. John J.) Palls and Lyda (Mrs. Leonard) Wiemann. Dugger Funeral Home.