Irene Staker

Irene L. Staker, 91, of Reinbeck died Monday, April 21, 2008, at Parkview Manor Nursing Home after a brief illness. Irene Lavina Kuhse was born January. 2, 1917, in Breda, Iowa, the oldest child of Henry E. and Fredericka J. (Ackerman) Kuhse. She grew up in the area of her birth before moving with her family to Hubbard and eventually to Reinbeck in the early 1930s. On March 5, 1936, she married Irvin Staker in Waterloo. The couple began farming in Grundy County before moving to a farm in Grant Township, Tama County, in 1949. The couple farmed in Tama County for almost 30 years before Irvin retired in 1973. In 1983 she moved to a house in Reinbeck and eventually to an apartment where she remained until her recent illness. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Irvin, Feb. 13, 1977; a daughter, Beverly Rae Staker, March 17, 1952, an infant son Feb. 26, 1946; three brothers: Harold, Francis and Donald Archie Kuhse; and a sister, Dorothy Metzger. She is survived by a son and two daughters: Donna (Bill) Dinsdale and Randy (Diane) Staker of Reinbeck and Debbie Staker of Waterloo; six grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and five step-great grandchildren; a brother, Bernard Hank Kuhse of Mesa, Ariz.