Irene M. Brenneman

Irene May Brenneman, 90, of Kalona, died Tuesday, July 5, 2016.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, July 9, at the Kalona Mennonite Church in Kalona with the Rev. Scott Swartzendruber and Assistant Chaplain Diane Brenneman officiating. Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service, Saturday at the church. A memorial fund has been established for the Pleasantview Home in Kalona, where she was a resident at the time of her death. Charitable donations may be mailed to: Pleasantview Home, 811 Third Street, P.O. Box 309, Kalona, IA 52247. The Peterseim Funeral Home in Kalona is in charge of the arrangements.

Miss Brenneman was born May 30, 1926, in Kalona, the daughter of Henry B. and Minnie (Knepp) Brenneman.

She attended Center High School and Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas. She worked as a nursing assistant at the Hospital School for Handicapped Children at the University of Iowa in Iowa City for 26 years. She also worked as a library aide at the Kalona Public Library for two years. She lived in Joetown until 1986, when she moved to Kalona. She was a member of the Kalona Mennonite Church, where she belonged to the WMSC. She enjoyed reading, tatting, other handcrafts, keeping a diary, playing Scrabble and doing volunteer work.

Surviving are five siblings, Ada Fisher of Kalona, Lois Gugel of Kalona, Virginia Ryan of Pinckney, Michigan, Wally Brenneman and wife Millie of Kalona, and Jim Brenneman and wife Eunice of Denver, Colorado; and a number of nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Mabel, and Blanche Brenneman; two brothers, David Brenneman and wife Betty, and Daniel Brenneman and wife Rose; three brothers-in-law, Owen Swartzendruber, Louis Gugel, and Dick Ryan; and one sister-in-law, Marlene Brenneman.