64040_Dorothy_Christensen
GARNER | Dorothy Christensen, 98, of Garner died Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014, at Hancock County Memorial Hospital in Britt.
Funeral services will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, at the United Methodist Church in Garner with the Rev. Paul Evans officiating. Burial will be in Madison Township Cemetery, south of Forest City.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at Cataldo Funeral Chapel, 160 E. Fourth St., Garner, and continue one hour prior to services at the church.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials for Dorothy be given to the Garner United Methodist Church or Hospice of North Iowa.
Dorothy Christensen, the daughter of Herman and Bertha (Thomas) Keel, was born Feb. 7, 1916, on a farm west of Forest City. She attended Forest City Community Schools, graduating in 1934. She shared honors with Miss Thelma Christensen as “Miss Forest City” in a 1934 beauty contest held at the Forest City Theater.
On September 1, 1935 she was married to Emil Alexander Christensen at the Little Brown Church in Nashua. They became the parents of five sons and made their home on the same farm Emil was born and raised on, southeast of Hayfield. In 1988, they retired from farming and moved into Garner.
Emil and Dorothy spent more than 20 winters vacationing in Florida. Dorothy enjoyed her family, fishing, traveling, reading and craftwork. She also loved to write and wrote a book called “Grandma Remembers.”
Dorothy actively held many offices in the Hayfield Methodist Church. She was Promotion Secretary of the Algona District United Methodist Women~s Society before it became the Mason City District. She was president of the Hancock County Federated Women~s Club for two years, participated in Iowa Farm Bureau Women~s activities and was a lifetime member of the Madison Ladies Progressive Club, the Hayfield G.G. Club and the Garfield-Madison Club. Dorothy was presently a member of the Garner United Methodist Church, the Welcome Sunday School class, UMW and the Esther Circle.
She enjoyed collecting shells along the Gulf of Mexico and doing shell craftwork. Dorothy was a member of the St. Petersburg Florida Shell Club. In the local area, she gave many talks entitled “Shells — Shells of Life” to various groups and organizations in the 1980s. She became known as “The Shell Lady.”
Dorothy is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Roger (Sharon) Christensen of Austin, Minn., Dick (Peggy) Christensen of Spring Hill, Fla., Don (Dotty) Christensen of Orlando, Fla., Keith Christensen of Forest City and James (Julie) Christensen of Issaquah, Wash.; 14 grandchildren, Chad (Michele) Christensen of Wilton, Iowa, Kellie (Tom) Wegner of Canton, Ga., Wade (Barbara) Christensen of Arvada, Colo., Rick Christensen of Leesburg, Fla., Robin (Rod) Morgan of Spring Hill, Fla., Tonya (Scott) Compton of Eustis, Fla., Sonya (Jay) Mulholland of Umatilla, Fla., Sara (Scott) Wagner of Indianapolis, Ind., Andrew (Majo) Christensen of Alicante, Spain, Heidi Weaver of Castle Rock, Colo., Jason (Patty) Christensen of Seattle, Wash., Staff Sergeant Joshua Christensen of Prince George, Va., Jenny Christensen of Waterford, Calif., and Jessica (Matthew) Brandt of Chanhassen, Minn.; two step-grandchildren, Kyle Lawson of Orlando, Fla., and Donna Lindsey of Orlando, Fla.; 17 great-grandchildren and two-step-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Emil, Oct. 20, 2000; her father, Herman, in 1952; her mother, Bertha, in 1956; a brother, Clarence (Winnie) Keel; a sister, Mabel (Truman) Lackore; and a nephew, Robert Keel.
Cataldo Funeral Home, Garner, IA; 641-923-2841 www.cataldofuneralhome.com