Eloise A. Gesell

Eloise A. Gesell, age 92, of Elma, Iowa passed away Tuesday, December 7, 2010 at Colonial Manor in Elma. Eloise Armina McFarlane was born on January 28, 1918 to Ralph and Elsie (Cooper) McFarlane in Oelwein, IA. After the family moved to the Cresco area Eloise attended country school and graduated from eighth grade in Cresco. She then moved with her family to Flint, MI for one year before moving to the Riceville, IA area where she graduated from Riceville High School. In 1937 Eloise was united in marriage to Le Roy Cable. To this union two daughters were born, Irene and Elsie. The couple later divorced. Eloise taught country school at the Howard #7, Grover, and Schmidt schools. In 1952 she was united in marriage to Arnold Gesell and lived on a dairy and hog farm north of Elma. She taught at Riceville Elementary School and also furthered her education at UNI in Cedar Falls, IA. Arnold and Eloise moved to the Osage-Rudd, IA area. After Arnolds death she moved back to Elma in 2001. Eloise moved to Colonial Manor in 2007. She was a member of St. Johns Lutheran Church near Osage, later becoming a member of St. Peters Lutheran Church in Elma and was a member of the Garden Club. Eloise had many diversified jobs, Master Gardener, Amway sales, and raised purebred Spotted Hogs. She especially loved her flowers. Eloise is survived by her daughters Irene Lund of Elma. IA, and Elsie Tank of Chandler, AZ; her grandchildren April (Dean) Buls, John (Pam) Lund, Yvonne Lund, Brian (Brenda) Lund, Sean Lund, Connie (Todd) Murray, Deb (Don) Reid and Lori Tank; her great-grandchildren Vincent (Karen) Buls, Alexander (Ashley) Buls, Jennifer Buls, Amanda and Nicholas Lund, Nathan Lund-Merkel, Cory Lund-Harms, Patrick and Phillip Lund, Cameron, Kelty and Grant Murray; her great-great grandchildren Austin, Ashton and Addyson; her sisters Shirley Ball and Eileen (Pat) Ball, both of Gramby, MO; her sisters-in-law Bonnie McFarlane of Le Roy, MN, Mary McFarlane of Tuyala, WA and Donna McFarlane of Willard, WI. She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands Le Roy Cable and Arnold Gesell; her brothers Irvin, Gerald, Arnold, Donald and Laurel McFarlane; her sister-in-law Doris McFarlane and brother-in-law Don Ball. Cemetery: Burial will be in Howard Cemetery at Elma. Visitation: Visitation will be from 4-8pm on Friday, December 10, 2010 at Conway-Kolbet Funeral Home in Elma. Visitation will continue on Saturday at the church one hour prior to the service. Service: Funeral services will be at 10:30am on Saturday, December 11, 2010 at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Elma with Pastor Ryan McDermott officiating.