Opal Jeanette (Hatfield) BRAM

BRAM, HATFIELD, HANSON, MOOREHEAD, ROESCH, DECKARD, MITCHELL, YATES

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/12/2017 at 00:28:30

March 23, 1922 --- January 22, 2017

CLEAR LAKE, IA --- Opal J. Bram, 94, of Clear Lake, died Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017, at the Oakwood Care Center in Clear Lake. A funeral service will be held 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, at Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St., Clear Lake. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be held one hour prior to service time at the funeral home. Opal's family suggests memorials to the Opal J. Bram Memorial Fund or the Humane Society of North Iowa, 2700 S. Birch Drive, Mason City, IA.

Opal Jeanette was born March 23, 1922, on a cold snowy day about 8 miles southwest of Paden, Oklahoma in a two room log house. She was the daughter of Pete and Ivron Hatfield. She attended school at Vanzant Country School, then went to high school in Paden, Oklahoma, graduating in 1940. After graduation, Opal had a job working for a couple, taking care of their baby. The next school year she worked for another couple taking care of their little boy.

Opal decided to move to Oklahoma City, and there she met Fred Bram from Iowa while riding a bus. He was serving in the United States Air Force and stationed in Oklahoma. She worked for Douglas Aircraft in Oklahoma City, they made C47 Cargo Airplanes for World War II. She was a dispatcher for production control. When the war was over, her job was done. She moved with her parents to La Feria, Texas and continued writing letters to Fred, and he would visit her.

Opal was united in marriage to Fred H. Bram in Kansas City, Missouri on March 20, 1946. The couple moved back to Iowa where they farmed hear Hardy for five years. The couple moved to Klemme, where they farmed for three years before buying their first farm north of Ventura. They lived and farmed there until retiring in 1996, after which they moved to Clear Lake.

Opal was a member of the United Methodist Church in Ventura from 1955 until the church closed. She transferred her membership to Garner. She belonged to the Naomi Circle for many years and taught Bible School. Opal was a homemaker, devoted wife, helped with chores and fieldwork, and was a wonderful loving mother to her two daughters, Brenda and Cheryl.

Opal and Fred enjoyed spending many winters in Arizona and Texas, traveling with their camper, until Fred's death in 1997. Opal loved visiting and spending time with her daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She also enjoyed gardening, flowers, talking on the phone to friends and family and especially writing letters and hearing from loved ones. She often told stories of when she was a child and living in Oklahoma. Family was very close to her heart.

Those left to cherish her memories are her daughters, Brenda (Joel) Hanson, Garner, and Cheryl (Rick) Moorehead, Ventura; five grandchildren, Stephanie (Michael) Roesch, Pittsburgh, PA, Kevin (Mary) Hanson, Ventura, Jeff Hanson, Garner, Melissa (Jameson) Deckard, Clear Lake, and Matthew (special friend, Abby) Moorehead, Forest City; seven great-grandchildren, Juel, Jade, and Jenna Hanson, Abbey, and Lily Hanson, and Hunter and Charlotte Deckard; her sister, Edith (Glenn) Mitchell, Midwest City, Oklahoma; her brother, Bennie Hatfield, Oroville, California; along with many nieces and nephews. Opal was preceded in death by her parents, Broadus "Pete" and Ivron Hatfield, her husband, Fred H. Bram, an infant son, Richard Fred, an infant daughter, Kathy Ann and a sister, Lora B. Yates. Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N Fourth St., Clear Lake, Iowa.

Mason City Globe Gazette -- Mason City, Iowa
January 26, 2017