Wanda Elaine (Lekwa) MARTIN

LEKWA, MARTIN, ERICKSON, HAUSER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/7/2012 at 13:17:20

February 7, 1927 - December 9, 2011

Wanda Elaine Martin, 84, died Friday, December 9, 2011 at the Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines, IA as the result of a car/pedestrian accident. She was born on February 7, 1927 in Hampton, IA, the daughter of Robert Martin and Gladys Opal Erickson Lekwa. Wanda graduated from High School in Dows, IA with the Class of 1945. Two years later, on November 14, 1947, Wanda was united in marriage to Arland Earl Martin in Denver, IA. They shared over 63 years of married life together and were blessed with three children, Robert Earl, Constance Rosa and Lynn Arland.

Wanda was very gifted in arts and crafts and for over twenty years she was the owner and operator of Wanda’s Ceramics and Gift Shop. Wanda and Arland were both baptized into Jesus Christ at the Hampton Church of Christ on April 20, 1952. After relocating to Ames, Iowa, the family became charter members of North Grand Christian Church in Ames. Wanda was a homemaker and a wonderful mother. She was devoted in taking care of her family and held all of them before the Lord in daily prayer. She was a loving grandmother and great-grandmother and once said that her grandchildren were “the air I breathe”. Her gift was hospitality and she opened her home to a ladies quilting group every week for over fifteen years and hosted a weekly Bible Study group.

She is survived by two sons, Robert Earl Martin and his wife Becky of Cabool, MO, Lynn Arland Martin and his wife Mary of Klamath Falls, OR and one daughter, Constance Rosa Hauser and her husband Bill of Keokuk, IA and her only brother, Darwin Robert Lekwa and his wife Elsie of Ames, IA. She leaves behind a legacy of twelve grandchildren and nineteen great-grandchildren. Wanda was preceded in death by her husband, Arland, one year ago on December 16, 2010, her parents and one grandson, Erik Arland Martin.

Funeral services were held at 10:30 a.m., Monday, December 19 at the North Grand Christian Church in Ames, IA with Brother Bob Martin and Brother Bill Hauser officiating. Graveside services were at 2:30 p.m., Monday at the Hampton Cemetery in Hampton, IA. Memorials may be made to the North Grand Christian Church in Ames, Keokuk Christian Academy in Keokuk, IA or the Christianville Misson in Haiti.

Vigen Memorial Home and Crematory - Keokuk, Iowa
http://www.vigenmemorialhome.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1337889&fh_id=10431