Alvina Magdalena KUHLERS

KUHLERS, VIERKANT, PALS, DIRKS, MENNENGA, DIRKSEN, MOSS, KRAMER, KEATON, PRESTHOLT, DUNTON, JOSTEN, REHM, BOBST, FITZGERALD

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/12/2013 at 18:39:57

January 20, 1919 ----- July 9, 2013

Belmond — Alvina M. Kuhlers, 94, of Belmond died of cancer Tuesday, July 9, 2013, at the Rehabilitation Center of Belmond. A funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday, July 12, at the Bethany Reformed Church in Belmond with the Reverends Phil Arnold and Melvin Voss officiating. Burial will follow in the Meservey Cemetery. Visitation for Alvina M. Kuhlers will be held on Thursday, July 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Dugger Funeral Home in Belmond, and continue one hour prior to services at the church on Friday.

Alvina Magdalena Kuhlers was born January 20, 1919, at home, on a farm northeast of Meservey, Iowa, the youngest of nine children to Albert and Grietje (Vierkant) Kuhlers. Alvina graduated from Meservey High School in 1935, and in 1936 graduated from catechism from First Reformed Church in Meservey, where she was a member. In 1938, she began clerking in the grocery store in Meservey, a vocation she enjoyed for more than 45 years. As was customary in those years, the youngest in the family stayed at home to care for the parents, which Alvina did until they passed away in the 1960s. Alvina said that the four years she took care of her mother before her mother’s death were the best years of her life.

Alvina lived in the family home in Meservey until moving to the Belmond Community Apartments, where she resided for more than 20 years until her recent move to the Belmond Rehabilitation Center. Following her move to Belmond, she attended Bethany Reformed Church, where she very much appreciated the fellowship and activities of the congregation. Alvina loved hearing from friends and family and enjoyed serving tea and cookies (especially chocolate chip) to her many visitors. She was fond of taking pictures of her family, and was never far from her camera. She was partial to “reindeer,” and numerous ceramic deer in her apartment reflected this fondness.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Albert & Grietje Kuhlers; and brothers, Herman (Rena), Albert (Leona), George (Thada); sisters, Reka (Harm) Pals, Alice (George) Dirks, Grace (Elmer) Mennenga, Marie (Louis) Dirksen; sister-in-law, Shirley Kuhlers; nieces Aileen (Al) Moss and Grace Dirksen; and nephew, Robert Dirksen. Alvina’s many nieces and nephews and their families were very special to her. She greeted all with warmth and love, treating each as her own.

Left to cherish her memory are one brother, Carl Kuhlers; and her nieces and nephews: Herman’s son Richard (Joanne) Kuhlers; Reka’s sons Eldon (Lola) Pals and Ron (Shirley) Pals; Alice’s children Eiola (Robert, deceased) Kramer, son-in-law Dirk Dirksen, George (Ellen Kay) Dirks, and Don (Mae) Dirks; Albert’s daughter Norma (Dave, recently deceased) Keaton; George’s daughters Jan (Cleon) Prestholt, Melva (Gary, deceased) Dunton, and Sharon (LaVurne) Josten; Grace’s children Alan (Lori) Mennenga, Duane (Jolene) Mennenga, and Diane (Chuck) Rehm; Marie’s daughter Karen (LeRoy) Bobst; and Carl’s children Terry (Eileen) Kuhlers, Wil Kuhlers, and Penny (Jeff) Fitzgerald.

Her presence will be felt in the stories told by her extended family and friends.

Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa
July 11, 2013