Phyllis Irene (Vietor) ANDERSON

VIETOR, ANDERSON, JOHNSON, BONJOUR, KIENOL

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/24/2016 at 17:08:48

August 3, 1922 ---- May 14, 2011

Phyllis Anderson, 88, of Ackley, Iowa, passed away Saturday, May 14, 2011, at the Presbyterian Village, Ackley. Funeral services for Phyllis Anderson will be 10:30 am Tuesday, May 17 at St. John's United Church of Christ, 716 3RD Avenue, Ackley, Iowa. A time of visitation will be from 4:00 to 8:00 pm Monday at the Linn's Funeral
Home, 903 Cerro Gordo Avenue, Ackley, Iowa. Memorial may be directed to the family care of her daughter: Penny Anderson; 211 Butler Street, Ackley, Iowa 50601. The Linn's Funeral Homes Ackley Chapel has been entrusted with the arrangements.

Phyllis Irene Vietor was born August 3, 1922 in Jesup, Iowa. As a young girl, her family lived on various farms in Minnesota, renting, fixing up the land/buildings, and then moving when the rent was raised. When Phyllis was high school age, they moved to Hampton, Iowa, where Phyllis, her dad & her sister, Adeline worked for Ferris
Nursery. This was during World War II and Phyllis often mentioned the trainloads of soldiers going by the people working in the fields, throwing out letters for the ladies to mail for them. Phyllis said there was a foreman at Ferris Nursery & if you were late, you had to wait until he came around again, so you could punch in on the time clock. Phyllis met her future husband, Walter, at a dance near Iowa Falls. She didn't want to go to the dance. She was tired, and wanted to stay home, but her younger sister didn't want to go alone, so Phyllis went along. Walter said that was going to be his last night at this dance hall...then he saw Phyllis, so he continued to come. They danced, got to know one another. The first night, he walked across the floor to ask her to dance. Her sister said "he's going to ask you". Phyllis didn't think so, but sure enough, that good-looking man did ask her to dance. He asked again...and again. After the dance, they would go out to eat & she would have a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.

A few years passed & they got married on October 3, 1951 at the First Congregational Church in Hampton. The wedding was at 1:00 and they were on their honeymoon by 3:00. They wanted to beat the shift change at Maytag, where she was working at the time. They took a month-long honeymoon. Camped out with a sleeping bag and a tent. Got snowed in while in the mountains, as they got married in October. Fell into a stream. Got soaking wet. Shoveled snow off the picnic table to cook pancakes in the morning. Walter went deer hunting and they came home with fresh venison. The first year of marriage, they lived in Dows and helped Walter's parents (Herman & Marie Anderson) run their flower shop/nursery/large garden for produce sales. Then Herman decided he wanted the business to himself, so Walter & Phyllis were going to buy a greenhouse & home near Avoca, Iowa. Walter's mother said "you don't want to take Phyllis that far from home". Walter was an only child, and his mother didn't want HIM that far from home. This is when Phyllis learned how to drive a car. Walter told her "If you want to see your parents, you better learn how to drive". Their first home in Ackley was a one-car garage they hauled over from Dows. They lived in this till Christmas, then moved into the basement of what would be their 2 room house. For many years, Walt & Phyllis (& later Penny) lived in two 9 x 12 rooms. Eventually, the business expanded, the house got more rooms, more greenhouses were built and Anderson's Flowers & Greenhouse is where it is today. Quite a change from an empty lot in 1952. These past years, Phyllis enjoyed going for rides in the car with Penny and watching scenery go by. She also enjoyed sitting in the front yard during nice weather and waving at cars going by. The gravel trucks going by enjoyed her waving at them, even if were it was a dozen times a day. Last summer, Phyllis especially enjoyed the tractor ride going by and waving at all the drivers. She enjoyed her dog "Coco", who came to see her at the nursing home a few times. She enjoyed the relatives, who came to see her, also.

On March 31, Phyllis fell in the bathroom at 2 a.m. She was taken by ambulance to Ellsworth Hospital, where a "mass" was found, both in her abdominal area and in the roof of her mouth. She was moved to the Presbyterian Village on April 5 and to Memory Care on April 22. Phyllis had a very strong inner spirit and literally fought death till she was down to skin & bones, going without food & then without water for many, many days. Her health declined rapidly. Her daughter, Penny, had contacted Hospice and plans were in place to bring Phyllis home. However, God had other plans & brought her to His home in Heaven. She died at 12:20 p.m. Saturday May 14, 2011. She did not die alone. Penny says she felt a "presence" of more than 1 in Phyllis' room in the time prior to her death.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her husband, Walter, on June 18, 1997. Also by her parents (Harm & Johanna Vietor of Hampton), her sisters; Adeline Johnson, Edith Bonjour and Eileen Kienol; and her brother, George Vietor. She is survived by her daughter, Penny Anderson, of Ackley, Iowa and her brother-in-law, Glenn Kienol of Shelbina, Missouri and nieces & nephews.

http://www.linnsfuneralhome.com/notices/Phyllis-Anderson