Ethel Mae (Davis) LOCKE

DAVIS, LOCKE, STOVER, YAGER, DEIMERLY, NAIL, DEIMERLY-SNYDER, SNYDER, LOCKE-BREWER, BREWER, LOCKE-SCHNEIDER, SCHNEIDER, SHERMAN, DIETZ, SANDERS, WAITE, RINGHAM

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/30/2016 at 03:32:01

March 3, 1922 ---- October 27, 2016

Ethel Mae (Davis) Locke, 94, of Ames, Iowa, died Thursday, October 27, 2016, at Heartwood House. A visitation will be held at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, November 1, with funeral services at 11:00 a.m., at First United Methodist Church in Ames. Lunch will be served at the church following the service. Burial will be at 3:00 p.m. at the Evergreen Cemetery in Clarion, Iowa.

Ethel was born March 3, 1922 to Eva Mae (Stover) and Joseph Forrest Davis in Rolfe, Iowa. She attended school at Rolfe until the second grade and then moved to Gilmore City, where she graduated in 1939. After high school, Ethel worked for a tax attorney in Gilmore City. Later she moved to Fort Dodge and worked for S & L Department Store selling shoes and also worked crafting eyeglasses. While in Fort Dodge, Ethel lived in a boarding house with her friend, Anise Bundy. Anise and Ethel bravely moved out to California during WWII to work at the airplane manufacturer, Lockheed Company. Ethel met her future husband, Robert Locke, on a Sunday afternoon blind date in 1937. Robert and Ethel remained a couple, despite being separated by Robert's military service in WWII. Ethel reunited with Robert in Anacortes, Wash., where he was stationed in the Navy. They were united in marriage on June 29, 1945, at the Methodist minister's home in Anacortes.

After the war, they moved to Ames. Robert attended ISU and majored in Agronomy while Ethel worked in the ISU Botany Department. They lived in Pammel Court until graduation. Robert's employment with the Soil Conservation Service took them to Clarion. Ethel was a homemaker and a wonderful mother to her three children. They made Clarion their home for 28 years, where they met lifelong friends, Lowell and Louise Yager.

In 1977, Ethel and Robert moved back to Ames where Robert worked with the Sandage Company. They built a home that overlooked Veenker Golf Course because of their mutual love for golf. Ethel treasured her home and was blessed to remain there as she aged.

Ethel's greatest love in life was her family. She enjoyed playing bridge with both her Clarion and Ames clubs, loved gardening, playing golf, and all ISU sports. She was a member of the United Methodist Church, the Women's Circle, T.T.T., delivered Meals on Wheels, was a Campfire Girls leader for her daughters, and helped with her son's Cub Scout group. Ethel and Robert enjoyed many winters at their home in Tucson, Ariz. They loved making memories with their kids and grandkids over the years at Lake Okoboji.

Ethel is survived by two daughters, Becky Deimerly (Thomas - deceased) of Marshalltown and Julie Nail (Nickolas - deceased) of Fort Dodge; one son, Robert (Debra) Locke of Omaha, Neb.; six grandchildren, Aimee Deimerly-Snyder (Thomas Snyder), Thomas Deimerly, Jessica Locke-Brewer, Jeanette Locke-Schneider (Robert Schneider), Abby Locke (fiance Zak Sherman), Sara (Zacary) Dietz; six great-grandchildren, T.J., Spencer, and Carson Snyder, Ava and Olivia Brewer, and Nickolas Dietz; and one sister, Joyce Sanders of Waukee, Iowa. Ethel was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Locke; her parents, Joseph and Eva Davis; her sisters, Melva Waite and Doris Ringham; and her brothers, Melvin Davis and Eugene Davis. Adams Funeral Home in Ames is assisting the family with arrangements.

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