Fern C Dungey
April 19, 1921 ~ December 25, 2018
Fern C. Dungey age 97, of New Hampton, IA passed away on Tuesday, December 25, 2018 at New Hampton Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in New Hampton with her family at her side.
Funeral services for Fern will be held at 10:30 AM on Friday, December 28, 2018 at Trinity Lutheran Church in New Hampton with Pastor Kevin Frey officiating. Burial will be in New Hampton Cemetery following the funeral services.
Visitation will be held from 4-7 pm on Thursday, December 27, 2018 at Conway-Markham Funeral Home and will continue at the church one hour prior to the funeral services on Friday. Online condolences may be left at www.conway-markhamfh.com. Memorials may be directed to Trinity Lutheran Building Fund.
Fern C. Dungey was born April 19, 1921, the daughter of Frank and Cora (Barth) Ruffridge in Locust, IA. She attended Locust Country School and was a 1939 graduate of Decorah High School. Shortly after graduating, Fern married Leland Ratcliff. The couple settled in Cresco raising their daughter, Merilee. Fern ran the Blue Light Grocery Store in Cresco for five years until Leland’s death. She was united in marriage to Everett Dungey on April 14, 1956 at St. Olaf in Preston, MN. They made their home in New Hampton and added three children to their family; Mark, Trace and Julie. Together they purchased the A&W in 1958 and opened Dungey’s Furniture in 1963. Side by side they operated both businesses until Ev’s death in 1983. Fern went on to own and operate the A&W until her retirement in 1987. She remained in her home until the age of 94 when she moved to New Hampton Nursing and Rehab in 2015.
Throughout the years, Fern and Everett enjoyed traveling. Fern filled her time in retirement with embroidering, reading, doing wordsearch puzzles and playing Bingo every chance she got! She was also an avid Green Bay Packer, and Iowa Hawkeye football and basketball fan. Fern will be remembered for cooking and baking for her family and friends. She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, the Iowa Restaurant Association, the Iowa A&W Operators Association and American Legion Auxiliary.
Those left to cherish her memory are her children; Merilee (Al) Close of Ferryville, WI, Mark (Jolene) Dungey, Trace (Lora) Dungey, both of New Hampton and Julie Anderson of Mason City, IA; her grandchildren, Joel (Angee) Pleggenkuhle, Chad (Sarah) Dungey, Bryan (Brooke) Dungey, Kyle (Cassy) Anderson, Mitch Buesing, Cory (Whitney) Dungey, Tony Dungey, Jada (Mat) Goddard and Nolan Dungey; 18 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husbands, Leland Ratcliff and Ev Dungey and her seven siblings.
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Mark, Jolene, & family, Our sincere sympathy and prayers to all of you at this time. It is difficult losing a loved one especially on a holiday but she is now at peace. She was such a delightful lady to visit with.
Dean and I are so sorry for your loss. We loved Fern so very much. She was always so happy and fun to be around. We will surly miss her. Love to all the Dungey family. You’ll be in our hearts and prayers.
Deepest sympathies and prayers. Sorry to hear about your loss.
Dungeon family we are so sorry to hear of your mother’s passing. We have so many fond memories of her at the A&W. She was a great lady.
You all have our sympathy and will keep you in our thoughts and prayers.
Duane and Marlys Hackman
Dungey family you have our deepest sympathy at this very difficult time!
Dungey Family, You’re in our prayers. Treasure your memories.
Mark, Jolene & Family 🙏🙏 Our deepest sympathies to you and your families. Sending hugs & prayers to all of you. Dan & Cathy Shatek
May the memories of Fern fill your thoughts in the next days. She was a great neighbor. All our prayers to her family. Jeanne and David Roder
Merilee, Mark, Trace, and Julie, Your mother touched a lot of people, she was such a great person. My prayers are with you all.
Barb Kotz
Our deepest sympathy to Fern’s family. Fern was one of our long-time faithful
bingo players and we enjoyed spending Monday nights with her. May God Bless.
Our prayers to all the Dungey Family. Your Mom was such a nice lady, enjoyed talking with her at the nursing home. Our thoughts are with you all…Paul and Colleen
So sorry Dungey family we always enjoyed Fern at Bingo!!!!
Tim & Terry
Sympathy to you ALL!
To the Dungey family our sympathy and prayers are to all of you. We always enjoyed Fern driving by the house and she would always wave when we were out in the yard. Always enjoyed talking to her when she would stop for a minute to say hi. She was a great lady that you will all miss dearly. Blessings to all.
Deepest sympathy to the Dungey family. Your mother was always a nice lady!
I worked at the A & W during the summers of high school and college. Fern was such a wonderful lady and a friend to her employees. I’ll always remember when Fern and I discovered we shared the same birthday. We danced in the kitchen, laughed, and hugged. My sympathy to the Dungey family.
I worked at the A & W for all four years of my high school life. Several of my friends worked there too and we called her Fernard just to be funny. She and Ev were fun good bosses and were kind to us workers. Fern let us Eichenberger girls drive her car home to get some practice driving–our crazy practice driving literally drove our mother crazy and she couldn’t handle us lurching across the intersections, sudden braking and killing the engine, and such. Fern was nice and let us practice with her car as she delivered us home after our night shifts. We all worked at the root beer stand in various jobs and I think we can all say “Fernard” was our second mother. We learned to work hard and have fun. My sympathies to the family but you all had her a long time, lucky you! From Cecilia Eichenberger, Durham, NC
I worked for Ev and Fern at the A & W when I was in high school and have so many good memories from that time. They were both such good people, so loving and caring. My sympathy to all of the family.
Marian (Roths) Palmersheim
MY DEEPEST SYMPATHY TO THE DUNGEY FAMILIES.
Our prayers go out to the Dungy family at the loss of Fern. God Bless you all. Marge and Dave Mayo
I am very sorry to here of Fern’s passing. I will keep her in my prayers.
My deepest sympathy to the Dungey family. Will keep you all in my thoughts & prayers.
Our thoughts and prayers to all the Dungey families! Keep your treasured memories close to your heart!
Thoughts and prayers to the Dungey family.
To all of Fern’s family, my sincere sympathy. Keep your wonderful memories close to your hearts, and know that you now have a special Angel, watching over you.
So sorry for your loss. You are all in our thoughts and prayers.
Mark , Trace and families,
Sincere sympathy for the loss of your Mom. Sweet lady, she will be missed.
To all of the Dungey family, our deepest sympathies