Irene June Meester, formerly of Grundy Center, Iowa, died Saturday, March 17, 2007, at the Willard Care Center in Willard Missouri. Funeral services will be 10:30 A.M., Wednesday, March 21, 2007, at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Grundy Center, Iowa, with Pastor Dan Graham officiating. Burial will follow at Colfax Center Presbyterian Church Cemetery. Visitation will be Tuesday, March 20, 2007, from 4:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. at Engelkes-Abels Funeral Home in Grundy Center, where family will be present to greet friends.
Irene June Knock was born to George and Jennie (nee Eckhoff) Knock on June 16, 1916 in Palermo Township. She attended rural school at Palermo No. 3 and graduated from Grundy Center Community School in 1933. For three years she taught rural school in Colfax Township, across the road from the Colfax Center Church.
She received her Christian education at Colfax Center Presbyterian Church, where she later taught Sunday school, catechism classes, youth groups and vacation Bible school. She joined Colfax Center Church in 1934.
She was united in marriage to Gerald Meester on May 31, 1937 at the manse of Colfax Center Church. They had two sons, Norman and Delmar.
Together Gerald and Irene farmed in Colfax Township until 1975, when they moved to Grundy Center. They joined Bethany Presbyterian Church in 1985. At Bethany she was a member of the adult Sunday school class, the Martha Circle, and Presbyterian Women.
In 1999 she moved to Bristol Manor, an assisted living facility in Willard, Missouri, and in June, 2005 she was transferred to the Willard Care Center. She was an affiliate member of Hillcrest Presbyterian Church, Springfield, Missouri.
She was preceded in death by her parents; by her sisters, Marian Flater and Lenora Bakker, and her husband Gerald, who
died in 1990. She is survived by her two sons, Norman, who resides in Willard, Missouri and Delmar, who resides in Chicago Heights, Illinois. She is also survived by three grandchildren, Kent Meester, Kristi Meester Whiteis, and Jonathan Meester, and several great grandchildren.