Chelsey Bildstein

CHELSEY BILDSTEIN

Anamosa

Chelsey L. Bildstein, 23, died Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, following a courageous battle with cancer. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 18, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Anamosa, with interment in Riverside Cemetery. Friends may call from 3 until 7 p.m. Sunday at the church. Goettsch Funeral Home, Anamosa, is in charge of arrangements.

Thoughts, memories and condolences may be left at

www.goettschonline.com.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established.

Surviving are her parents, Charles and Carol; her siblings, Austin of Cedar Rapids and Chad (Shantel) and Lindsey, both of Anamosa; a niece, Brylea; a nephew, Talon; and her grandmothers, Norma Bildstein of Cascade and Patricia Hughes of Cedar Rapids.

She was preceded in death by her grandfathers, Cletus Bildstein and Charles Hughes.

Chelsey Leigh Bildstein was born Oct. 3, 1990, at Methodist Hospital, Des Moines, Iowa, the daughter of Charles and Carol Hughes Bildstein. Chelsey attended St. Patrick's Catholic School and graduated with the class of 2009 from Anamosa Community Schools. She attended Kirkwood Community College for a year and graduated from St. Ambrose College in Davenport, with a bachelor's degree in business management. She was currently employed in customer service at Transamerica in Cedar Rapids.

Chelsey had worked at Paul Revere Pizza in Anamosa during high school and at Wal-Mart while at Kirkwood. She was a member of the National Honor Society and the Student Council at Anamosa Community Schools. Chelsey made the dean's list while at St. Ambrose. She played softball, basketball and volleyball in high school and softball for St. Ambrose College.

Chelsey loved her family very much. She enjoyed just being with them whether it was on the beach in Florida or just watching movies in the family room. The love she showed for her niece (Brylea) and nephew (Talon) was great. They brought much joy to her life just by the way they laughed and played in her presence.

Chelsey was an avid reader – she especially liked the Harry Potter book series. She enjoyed going to the late night movie premieres of Harry Potter with her sister and school friends.

She was an outstanding athlete, excelling especially in softball, which she enjoyed playing. Her softball career started at a young age as a catcher while playing for the Linn County Lightning softball team. This is where she teamed up with one of her childhood friends to form one of the best catcher/pitcher combinations in the state of Iowa during her high school career. Opposing players rarely stole a base on Chelsey – they knew their chances of success were very small.

Once you were a friend of Chelsey's you had a lifetime friend. She would defend her friends in all sit-uations. As many of her friends have told us they never heard her say a bad thing about others.

She so much wanted to be a mom. When she learned of her disease she accepted the fact with grace that she would not be able to have her own babies.

Her family is going to form a foundation in Chelsey's memory to assist families with the cost of adoption.