Marilyn Joan (Pals) CARROLL

CARROLL, LIEUWEN, PALS, NEUWOHNER, ERMER, HELGESON, WELTER, LERDAL

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:47

June 26, 1930 ---- December 2, 2018

Marilyn Joan Carroll, 88, died peacefully on Sunday, December 2, 2018, at Lutheran Retirement Home in Northwood, Iowa. Visitation will be held from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, December 5, 2018, at the Champion-Bucheit Funeral Home in Osage, with funeral services beginning at 2:30 p.m. at the funeral home. Pastor Julie Schubert will officiate. Burial will be in the Osage Cemetery.

Joan was born on June 26, 1930 in Belmond, Iowa, the daughter of Joe and Mourine (Lieuwen) Pals. She attended and graduated from the Belmond Community Schools in 1955 (?). She humbly would acknowledge that she was the Salutatorian of her class. Immediately following graduation from high school, Joan attended Iowa State Teachers College and began her teaching career at Goldfield Community Schools where she met her future husband, James Carroll. On December 24, 1950, Joan and Jim were married. To this union two daughters were born, Susan and Leanne.

Joan loved her years of teaching and substituting. She never wavered from the idea that she couldn’t have chosen a better profession. She recalled many fond memories of her students up until the day she passed. In later years, she would be fondly remembered as the “substitute that smelled so good.”

Joan enjoyed many things in life, but her happiest times were spent visiting the gift stores and hunting for bargains on Main Street in Osage, going out to eat with friends, attending morning coffees with her “coffee groups”, bowling on Wednesdays, visiting with her children and grandchildren, and helping her husband with whatever project they were working on. Those projects included planting flowers, woodworking projects, and deciding on their daily car ride route.

Our mother was definitely the mother and wife of the 1960’s. She kept an immaculate house, raised her children in a loving and tender manner, cooked delicious home-cooked meals, and never had a mean word to say about anyone. Joan was the perfect role-model. She loved her husband tremendously and was always at his side. They made decisions as a team and she was his number one supporter.

Left to cherish her memory are two daughters, Susan (Jeff) Neuwohner of Lake Mills and Leanne (Rick) Ermer of Garner; five grandchildren, Emily (Dan) Helgeson of Lake Mills, Megan (Scott) Welter of Reinbeck, Joe Ermer of West Des Moines, Jimmy Ermer of State Center, and Jack Ermer of Garner; three great-grandchildren, Cooper Helgeson, Emmett Helgeson, and Kendall Welter. She is also survived by one sister, Carol (Rolland) Lerdal of Berne, Indiana and one sister-in-law, Marlys Pals of Cedar Falls. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jim, of 63 years; her mother and father, Joe and Mourine Pals; and two brothers, David and James Pals.

Special thanks to everyone at Lutheran Retirement Home in Northwood, Iowa for the kindness and care given to Joan the past two and a half years.

Champion-Bucheit Funeral Home, Osage, Iowa
http://www.champion-bucheitfuneralhome.com/obituary/joan-carroll