Paula (Meier) SPROLE MCCLURE

MCCLURE, MEIER, SPROLE, ACTON, BOYER, WAGGETT, MEIER, DITSWORTH, PIRKL, PALS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/12/2011 at 14:19:51

October 8, 1910 --- August 22, 2004

MASON CITY — Paula Sprole McClure of Mason City passed away Sunday (Aug. 22, 2004) at the age of 93. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the First Presbyterian Church in Mason City, with the Rev. Terry Hamilton-Poore officiating. Interment will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be held one hour before the service at the church. Memorials may be directed to First Presbyterian Church of Mason City.

Paula was born in Alten Donop, Germany, on Oct. 8, 1910. She came to America with her parents and three older brothers in September of 1924, joining relatives in the Rockford area. She attended country school and then graduated from Hamilton Business College in Mason City at age 18. She was secretary and bookkeeper for Mitchell (Mike) Sprole in his business, Mason City Creamery, in the 1930s and married him in 1938. During World War II, she and Mike farmed just west of Mason City, continuing that business until he died in 1959. She then worked for businesses in Mason City as a secretary and bookkeeper.

She had one child, John Sprole, now of Des Moines. She helped raise M. Burton Sprole, Mike’s son from his deceased first wife, and saw him off to World War II in 1944 and his graduation from Iowa State College in 1948. John graduated from Macalester College in 1971 and the University of Iowa Law School in 1976. He and wife Tamara live in Des Moines, where he practices law. They have two grown daughters, Amanda Acton and Kathleen Sprole. Burton and wife Doris are retired at Allison and have three grown children, Cynthia Boyer, Julie Waggett, and John M. Sprole.

Paula married Roy M. McClure of Belmond in 1967 and lived in retirement with him in Mason City until his death in 1988. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church of Mason City for more than 65 years and was very active in the church. She also enjoyed gardening, crafts, reading and music.

In addition to John and Burton and their families, she will also be missed by great-grandchildren, Klayton Sprole, McKenna Sprole, and Brandi, Brittney, and Brett Waggett. She will also be missed by nephews, Martin (Lois) Meier of Swaledale, Richard (Larue) Meier of Swaledale, Mary Ann (Cecil) Ditsworth of Mason City, Shirley (Paul) Pirkl of Mason City, Eugene (Lucille) Meier of Rockford, and their families, and the families of niece, Dorothea (Warren) Pals and nephew Francis (LeAnn) Meier, who preceded her. She is preceded by her parents, Friedrich and Dorothea; and her brothers, Gustav (Hermine), Otto (Gladys), and Julius (Elma). Major Erickson Funeral Home & Crematory.

August 24, 2004
Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa