Lois Swartzendruber

WELLMAN ? Lois Irene Graber Swartzendruber, 88, of Wellman, died Wednesday, July 27, 2016, in Parkview Manor in Wellman.

Funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Monday, Aug. 1, at the Wellman Mennonite Church in Wellman with the Rev. Nathan Ramer officiating. Burial will be in the Wellman Mennonite Cemetery. Visitation will be from 3 to 6 p.m., Sunday at the Powell Funeral Home in Wellman. A memorial fund has been established for Wellman Mennonite Church.

Mrs. Swartzendruber was born July 23, 1928, in Wayland, the daughter of Joseph and Barbara (Rich) Graber. She married Wilbur Swartzendruber on June 5, 1949, in Wayland.

She graduated from Wayland High School and Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls. She and her husband made their home in the Wellman community. She taught at Richwoods School in rural Henry County and Greene Center School in rural Iowa County for five years. She taught preschool in the basement of the home she and her husband built on Eighth Avenue, from 1962 to1985. She later worked as a cook at Parkview Manor for 10 years. She was a member of the Wellman Mennonite Church, where she taught Bible school and Sunday school. She volunteered with Mennonite Disaster Service with tornado cleanup in Grand Island, Nebraska. She loved serving on the Wellman-Scofield Public Library Board and assisting the clerk on election days. She hosted many coffees and quilting bees for friends, neighbors and family. She was known to be a very good cook. When unexpected guests dropped in, she was sure to have something sweet in the freezer to serve.

Surviving are three children, Joyce Swartzendruber and James Melnis of Bozeman, Montana, Douglas Swartzendruber and wife Gail of Castro Valley, California, and Scott James ?Jim? Swartzendruber and wife Chrissy of North Liberty; three grandsons; and three sisters, Rachel Wyse of Wellman, Berniece Roth of Laguna Woods, California, and Beulah Mae Swartzendruber of Cedar Falls.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Wilbur, in 2007; two sisters, Welma Nelson, and Sara Lu Frederick; and four brothers, Clarence, Willis, Raymond, and Virgil Graber.