Ida R. (Olinger) VERHELST

VERHELST, OLINGER, CRANE, SANKEY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 4/12/2014 at 14:28:18

August 12, 1923 --- April 6, 2014

BELMOND -- Ida R. VerHelst, 90, of Belmond, passed away Sunday April 6, 2014, at the Iowa Specialty Hospital of Belmond. Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday, April 11, 2014, at the United Methodist Church in Belmond, with Pastor Mike Shaffer officiating. Burial will be in the Fairview Cemetery in Dows. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10, at Dugger Funeral Home, 111 Luick’s Lane South in Belmond, and will continue one hour prior to services at the church on Friday.

Ida, the daughter of Ralph and Hazel (Crane) Olinger, was born Aug. 12, 1923, in Dows, Iowa. She graduated from Clear Lake High School in 1942. Ida was united in marriage to Earl VerHelst of Swaledale on Aug. 14,1944, in Clear Lake, where they made their first home. They eventually moved to the Goodell and Kanawha areas where they farmed. They continued to farm for Tomco Seeds in Belmond, while living at Blue Mound farm north of Clarion. The family moved to Dows in 1966. In that same year Ida was working for Agco Seed in Belmond. She rode out the Belmond tornado in the back seat of her car. She later worked at the Casey's Store in Dows, and also drove school bus for the Dows Community schools for 16 years.

She taught her grandchildren to play the spoon game and with her usual amount of laughter she always seemed to win, or so the kids thought. Ida enjoyed crocheting, canning, baking, cooking, playing cards, bingo, puzzles, and going to garage sales. Earl and Ida received a Good Citizenship Award from the community of Dows for their dedication to the town.

Ida is survived by three children, Dennis (Donna) of Belmond, Debra (Tom) Sankey of Mitchellville, and Dean (Sandy) of Algona; five grandchildren, Troy (Gloria), Katie (Marc), Brian (Alisha), Justin (Amber) and Stacey (Tony); 11 great-grandchildren, Morgan, Briana, Piper, Cooper, Madalyn, Kristin, Bailey, Olivia, Mason, Eli and Kaylee, and one sister-in-law, Janice Olinger of Mason City. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, one grandson Stephen Sankey, two brothers and one sister. Dugger Funeral Home, Dows, Iowa.

Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa
April 10, 2014