Mildred Tarbell's Obituary
Mildred Lois Tarbell, age 95, was born March 6, 1919, in Independence Township, Appanoose County, Iowa to Benjamin Franklin and Isal Anna (Espy) Irwin. She died January 18, 2015, at a private care facility in Centerville, Iowa. Mildred married Mansel Tarbell in Centerville, Iowa on August 31, 1940. They celebrated their 58th year of marriage in 1998. To this union five sons were born.
Mildred was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Mansel, in 1999, and one son, James Joseph, ""Jamie"", at the age of five and a half months in February of 1948, a half-sister, Helen Cozad, a half-brother, Oswald Irwin, a daughter-in-law, Hetty (Andrea) Tarbell and a brother-in-law, Lewis Curtis. She is survived by her sons, Ben (Monna) Tarbell of Altoona, Iowa; P Stephen (Gail) Tarbell of rural Melrose, Iowa, Fred Tarbell of Naperville, Illinois, and John Tarbell and partner, Robbie, of Centerville, Iowa; grandchildren, Kristi (Greg) Boyce, Lisa (Tim) Norlin, Sef (Shannon) Tarbell, Jeffrey (Denise) Tarbell and Jamie Tarbell, Wade (Lisa) Bassett, Jolena (Brad) Conover, Masja Kampinga and partner, Juan, Daphne Kampinga and partner, Scott, Sanne Worthing and husband Lucas, and Rebecca Brueswitz and husband Steve, James White, Randy White, Gary Black, numerous great grandchildren and great great grandchildren, one sister, Dorothy (Irwin) Curtis and her family and a nephew Dorman Irwin. Mildred graduated from Centerville High School in 1937 and taught in the rural schools until her marriage to Mansel in 1940. In 1940 they built a home in Independence Township, where they had both been raised. Mildred lived in that home from then until December of 2014. When she was eighteen, a kindly gentleman gave her an iris and told her it was worth $25.00. She still had that color of iris and added many other colors throughout the years. The yard surrounding the Tarbell home was filled with vegetable and flowers gardens, which she was still tending in the summer of 2014. In the past few years she had accumulated about a dozen orchids and tended them faithfully, enjoying all the beautiful blooms that they produced. She loved her home and family. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, friend and neighbor. She was a charter member of the Clover Leaf Club. She attended various churches over the years, most recently the Iconium Methodist church.
No formal services have been planned. A celebration of life in Mildred's honor will be held at a later date. Her remains will be interred at Brushy Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Iconium Methodist church or sent to St Jude Children's Research Hospital, a research and treatment facility for catastrophic diseases in children. All donations or memorials can be sent to Lange Funeral Home, 1900 S. 18th St., Centerville, Iowa 52544.
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