Arlene Anna Kiepe 1917 - 2020
KIEPE, ROSBURG, BOCKELMANN
Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 6/22/2021 at 13:47:44
Arlene Anna Kiepe, age 103, of Mapleton, Iowa, passed away on Saturday, August 8, 2020, at the Maple Heights Nursing Home of Mapleton, Iowa.
A Funeral Service will be held at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, August 15, 2020, at the St. Matthew Lutheran Church of Mapleton, Iowa. The Rev. Christopher J. LaBoube will officiate. Committal Services will follow in the St. Clair Township Cemetery of Ute, Iowa. A Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Friday, August 14, 2020, at the Armstrong-Van Houten Funeral Home of Mapleton, Iowa. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic masks are strongly encourage and social distancing rules will apply during all services. The Armstrong - Van Houten Funeral Home of Mapleton, Iowa, is in charge of the funeral arrangements.
Arlene was born to William and Emma (Rosburg) Bockelmann on a farm near Ute, Iowa, on July 29, 1917. She was the second oldest and only daughter of the five children born to William and Emma. She was named Arlene Anna Marguerth Bockelmann and was baptized in the Lutheran faith at St. Paul Lutheran Church of Ute, Iowa. She was later confirmed in her faith at St. John Lutheran Church of Charter Oak, Iowa.
Arlene attended rural and parochial schools through the 8th grade before she was needed at home. She helped her mother with cleaning, ironing, washing and mending. As a teenager Arlene enjoyed going to barn dances and learned to embroider towels and pillowcases. She advanced her sewing skills and made her first quilt at the age 14. Arlene took after her father’s musical talent, teaching herself to play the accordion and mouth harp from the same catalog her father ordered his violin and accordion from.
On January 10, 1937, she was united in marriage to Ferdinand “Ferd” Kiepe. They lived on a farm near Ute when their first child, Leon, was born. For a few years they lived in town at Ute and then the town of Charter Oak, Iowa. During this time daughters Joleen “Jo” and Jane were born. In 1947 they moved to her parents’ farm and lived there until 1951 when they relocated to a farm near Ute. They retired in 1972 and moved to their new home in Mapleton, Iowa. Arlene worked at Maple Heights Nursing Home until they moved to the Maple Crest Apartments in 1980 and were hired as caretakers.
Arlene remained a volunteer at Maple Heights and the couple also volunteered for the Meals on Wheels program. After Ferd’s death in 1989, she remained in the apartment at Maple Crest for several years. During this time, she enjoyed Senior Center activities, coffee group and playing cards with her Mapleton friends. Before coming to reside at Maple Heights Nursing Home in 2018 she had lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Jane and Garry Mason, for five years.
She was a member of St. Matthew Lutheran Church of Mapleton and had served on the altar guild, LCW, Braille for the Blind group, and quilting group.
She was preceded in death by her husband Ferdinand “Ferd”; son Leon; brothers Herman (Edna & Bonita), LuVern (Opal), Albin (Ruth) and William Jr. “Pete”.
She is survived her daughters Jo (Wayne) Mason of Arizona and Jane (Garry) Mason of Missouri; sister-in-law Ethel; 10 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 20 great-great grandchildren.
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