Grand Junction Obituaries

JOHN NELSON

Memorial services for John Nelson, 88, of Grand Junction were April 17, 2010, at Slininger-Rossow Funeral Home in Jefferson with burial in Junction Township Cemetery at Grand Junction. Visitation was held the previous day at Slininger-Rossow Funeral Home in Grand Junction with a Masonic service held that evening.

John Allen Nelson was born March 4, 1922, in Greene County, Iowa. He was the son of Oscar “Ole” and Dora (Boston) Nelson. He graduated from Grand Junction High School in 1940. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II in the South Pacific.
John married Nina Rosella Coffin on March 14, 1947, at the bride’s home in Gowrie. John and Nina lived in Jefferson for three years and then moved to Grand Junction, where they raised their family.

John delivered grain with his father Ole and hauled livestock with his brother-in-law Earl Curry, and he also delivered eggs and cream for C&M Produce. He worked at Ford Dodge Laboratories, Martin Brother’s Gas Station and was a clerk at U.S. Post Office in Grand Junction. He delivered the Sunday Des Moines Register for many years. In 1969, after working with T.R. Watts and Sons Insurance, he purchased the business and began Nelson Insurance Agency. During that time he also had a home medical equipment business and sold real estate. He owned several rental properties in Grand Junction, Jefferson and Churdan over the years. John and Nina retired in 1986, selling the insurance business to McDonald Insurance in Scranton, and they spent the winter months in Mesa, Ariz.

John in survived by two sons, Bill Nelson, Shannon, Ill., and Jim Nelson, Jefferson; two daughters, Rosella Zimmerle, Adel, and Carol Gower, Lake City; 10 grandchildren; 8 great-grandchildren; and one brother, George Nelson, Des Moines.

Memorials are suggested to the Salvation Army or Stewart Memorial Community Hospice in Lake City. Services were arranged by Slininger-Rossow Funeral Homes of Jefferson and Grand Junction.

OTTOLENE DOWNS

Memorial services for Ottolene Downs, 102, of Grand Junction were held Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010, at First Presbyterian Church in Grand Junction. Interment was planned for Memorial Park Cemetery in Sioux City for a later date.

Ottolene Ruth West Downs was born Nov. 25, 1907, at Ticonic, Iowa, the daughter of James C. West and Lora Elizabeth Forker West. She was the eldest of three children. Ottolene attended school in Onawa, Iowa, where she received normal school training in preparation to be a school teacher. She briefly attended college, and taught in a one-room country school during the Depression.

She married Frank Downs Jr. on June 18, 1931, in Monona County, Iowa, where Frank briefly ran a gas station. They moved to Bronson, Iowa, first renting and then buying a farm. In 1967 they moved to rural Rippey to be near their daughters. After Frank died, Ottolene moved to Grand Junction. In 2005 she moved to Regency Park in Jefferson.

Ottolene helped start the hot lunch program in the Bronson school. She served as 4-H committeeman, PTA officer, and was active in her church’s women’s organization. She enjoyed gardening, sewing, crocheting, repairing work clothes, tailoring and crafts.
She is survived by her daughters, Lora Lynette Downs Holz, Jefferson, and LaVaras Eloise Jewett, Grand Junction; grandchildren Kristi Holz, Afton; Robin Holz Searles, Altoona; Julie Holz Breshears, Davis City; Jeffery Myron Jewett, Mahomet, Ill.; and Jamie Rehak, Williston, N.D.; and 11 great-grandchildren.

MURIEL THOMPSON

Funeral services for Muriel Thompson, 91, were held Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009, at Slininger-Rossow Funeral Home in Jefferson. Interment was in Junction Township Cemetery at Grand Junction.

Muriel died Dec. 10, 2009, in her sleep in the Evangelical Free Nursing Home in Boone, where she had been a resident for three months. She was born Dec. 4, 1918, in Grand Junction, the daughter of Edgar and Hazel Crow Mack. She was the youngest of three children, with two older brothers, Vernon and Marshall.

Muriel graduated from Grand Junction High School in 1937. She attended Iowa State Teachers College for brief time before taking employment as a teletype operator for Western Union in Chicago and Des Moines.

She married Lowell Rhodes Thompson on Oct. 6, 1946, in Delta, Colo. The couple lived in Colorado before moving to Grand Junction in February 1949. The couple farmed northwest of Grand Junction near Spring Lake for several years and later southwest of Grand Junction. In February 1976, the couple moved to a farm west of Panora, where they lived until their retirement in 2005, when they moved to Ames.

Muriel was a homemaker and helped with livestock and gardening on the farm. She was a Stanley Home Products representative for 35 years, earning several recognitions and awards. She was a lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church in Grand Junction and active in UPW and church circles. She was also a member of the U-Go-I-Go Club of rural Grand Junction.

She is survived by her children, Robert Thompson, Ames; Linda Thompson, Urbandale; and Kent Thompson, Humboldt; two grandchildren, Ryan and Robin Thompson; and a sister-in-law, Joyce Mack, Grand Junction.

VERDA EILBERT

Verda Eilbert, 86, died Jan. 13, 2010, at Regency Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Jefferson. Funeral services were Monday, Jan. 18, 2020, at First United Methodist Church in Grand Junction. Verda’s body was donated to the University of Iowa Anatomical Gift Program, with future burial in Junction Township Cemetery at Grand Junction. Services were arranged by Slininger-Rossow Funeral Homes of Jefferson and Grand Junction.

Verda Culley Eilbert was born near Rippey on Nov. 5, 1923, to William and Bertha (Kinkead) Culley. She was a 1941 graduate of Grand Junction High School. After graduation, she moved to Chicago to make her home with her brother Gerald and his family. She worked there as a secretary for the Motorola Company for five years. On June 16, 1946, she married Francis Eilbert, and they made their home on the family farm near Grand Junction, where they resided nearly 60 years. Due to declining health, they moved to Regency Park in Jefferson in 2006.

Verda was preceded in death by her husband, Francis; son, Chris; parents; and her siblings: Gerald, Loren and Darwin “Tommy” Culley and Nadine Wessling.

Survivors include her daughter, Cheryl Armstrong, Pembroke Pines, Fla., and son, Craig Eilbert, Marion; daughter-in-law, Mary Eilbert, Wellsburg; and grandchildren: Jill Eilbert, Grand Junction; Jacob Eilbert, St. Paul, Minn.; Jessica Eilbert, Indianola; Catie Eilbert, Marion; and Elyse Eilbert, Suwanee, Ga.

VERNA MAE WISE
Funeral services for Verna Mae Wise, 83, of Grand Junction were Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at the First United Methodist Church in Grand Junction. Interment was in Beaver Cemetery at Beaver. She died Friday, March 5, in the Greene County Medical Center in Jefferson after living in Regency Park in Jefferson for a little over a year.

Verna Mae Wise was born Sept. 15, 1926, in Perry to Charles and Wilda Faye Harvey. She graduated from Perry High School in 1945. She married Paul Wise on April 7, 1946, in Grand Junction where they spent the rest of their married life. They farmed in the early years of their marriage, and then moved into town in 1962 when Paul worked for the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Verna Mae was a CNA at the Ogden Manor in Ogden and for many years wrote a column for Globe-Free Press in Grand Junction and later the Jefferson Herald. She was a member of the Legion Auxiliary, First United Methodist Church of Grand Junction, and United Methodist Women.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Paul; sons Donald Wise and David Wise; daughter-in-law Marcia Wise; brother, LeRoy Harvey; and an infant sister.
Verna Mae is survived by her sons, Daniel Wise, Jefferson; Douglas Wise, Omaha; Dennis Wise, Lorena, Texas; daughter-in-law, Diane Wise, Jefferson; 22 grandchildren; and 8 great-grandchildren.

PAULINE ARNES

Pauline Arnes, 85, died March 27, 2010, at the Israel Family Hospice in Ames. Funeral services were March 31 at Carson-Stapp Funeral Home in Ogden with Rev. Paul Evans officiating. Pauline’s wishes were to be cremated with burial at a later date in Grand Junction.

Pauline Arnes, daughter of the Lloyd and Ada (Blake) Warner, was born Oct. 10, 1924, in Carroll. She graduated from Grand Junction High School in 1945 and attended Iowa Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing in Des Moines in the Cadet Program during World War II.

Pauline was a labor and delivery room nurse for 38 years, working for Boone County Hospital in Boone and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange, Calif. After retiring, she lived in Enid, Okla., and was actively involved in Sr. Ambucs, AARP and Community Methodist Church.

She is survived by her children, Barbara Sanden, Ogden, and Mike Arnes, Plymouth, Minn.; five grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.