Opal Darlene (Wilkinson) BAACK

BAACK, CARPENTER, WILKINSON, HOLLAND, ZIEMANN, GRIFFITH, MORRIS, LARSEN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/6/2010 at 20:16:54

Mason City Globe Gazette, Iowa
February 22, 2006

KLEMME, IA — Darlene Baack, 81, a lifelong resident of Klemme, died unexpectedly Monday (Feb. 20, 2006) at the Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Immanuel Reformed United Church of Christ in Klemme, with the Rev. Donna Buckman officiating. Interment will be in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Mason City. Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the Andrews Funeral Home, 528 East Main St. in Klemme and continue one hour prior to the services on Thursday at the church. Those wishing to express their sympathies through a memorial may direct them to the family in care of Darlene’s daughter Lora Carpenter.

Opal “Darlene” Wilkinson, the daughter of Eugene Walding and Kittie Laura (Holland) Wilkinson, was born on Sept. 12, 1924, at Mason City, Iowa. Darlene attended Mason City public schools. She was united in marriage to Paul William Baack on May 28, 1946, at Troy, Missouri. Following their marriage the couple farmed east of Klemme and raised their two children, Lora and Larry. Darlene was a lifelong homemaker and partner on the farm. She had also worked for many years in the health care profession both at the Park Hospital in Mason City and in the Food Service Department at the Oakwood Care Center in Clear Lake. Her first and foremost love in life was spending time with her family and her husband’s family. She was very close with her granddaughters. Darlene enjoyed flowers and liked to work word search puzzles. She was an excellent cook and made excellent homemade breads and other baked items such as Cherry Goo Bars, homemade caramels, and oatmeal cookies which her family will remember the wonderful smells and tastes in her kitchen. A favorite pastime for her family was spending Sunday afternoons with each other over one of Darlene’s delicious dinners she made for them. In earlier years she also did a lot of canning of her produce.

In more recent years, Darlene and her son would often spend time touring the countryside, going out to eat, or driving to see Darlene’s daughter Lora’s family in Mason City. Usually if you saw Darlene, her son Larry was not far away. She enjoyed bus excursions to various casinos around the region. Those who knew Darlene will remember her pleasant smile, the twinkle in her eye, her gentle personality, and the warm love she had for others.

Those left to cherish the memory of her life include her daughter, Lora and husband, Ronald Carpenter, of Mason City; and her son, Larry Baack, of Klemme; her two sisters, Maxine Ziemann and Aileen Griffith, both of Mason City; her granddaughters, Amy and husband, Jeffrey Morris, and their children Ronnie, Jorden, and Hannah Morris all of Virginia Beach, Va., and Angela Carpenter, of Mason City; also many nieces, nephews, and extended family. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Paul in 1999; a brother Eugene, and a sister, Josephine Larsen. Andrews Funeral Home.