Darlene Miller

Darlene Fern Miller, 88, of Kalona, died Tuesday, July 12, 2016, in the Pleasantview Home in Kalona.

A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, July 16, at the Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Church in Kalona with Chaplain John King and Assistant Chaplain Dianne Brenneman officiating. Burial will follow at the Lower Deer Creek Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m., Friday at the church. A memorial fund has been established for Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Church and the Iowa Lions Foundation. The Beatty Peterseim Funeral Home in Kalona is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Miller was born Dec. 28, 1927, in rural Wellman, the daughter of Maynard and Bertha (Reber) Brenneman. She married Leo E. Miller on Sept. 14, 1950, at the Lower Deer Creek Church.

She was a member of the first graduating class from Iowa Mennonite School in 1948. She was a homemaker, worked in the kitchen at the Pleasantview Home, and in 1984 began selling Avon products, a job she loved because she got to meet new people and make new friends. She was a member of Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Church, the Lions and Lioness clubs of Kalona, and served as the state chairperson of the Iowa Lioness Club. She enjoyed reading, traveling and spending time with her children and grandchildren.

Surviving are four children, Wendell Miller and wife Cheryl of Iowa City, Eileen Sawatsky and husband Steve of Champlin, Minnesota, Merlin Miller and wife Kathy of Denver, Colorado, and Julia Truex and husband Michael of Goshen, Indiana; nine grandchildren; two step-grandsons; five great-grandchildren; six step-great-grandchildren; one brother, Curtis Brenneman and wife Sue of West Burlington; and one sister, Donna Helgens and husband Clifford of Monticello.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Leo; and her sister and brother-in-law, Lola Jean and Maurice Bender.