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TePoel, Luella May
Luella May TePoel, 86, of Solon, died Saturday, March 12, 2011, at Briarwood Healthcare Center. Services will be 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 15, at Brosh Chapel in Solon. Burial will follow in Oakland Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at the chapel. Brosh Chapel in Solon is in charge of arrangements.
Luella was born Dec. 7, 1924, near Parnell, Iowa, to Anna Mary (Reading) and Bernard Barney Spratt. As a child, she lived on farms near Parnell, Norway and Oxford. She graduated from Oxford High School in 1943. She married Leonard W. TePoel on Feb. 17, 1944. She lived in Baltimore, Md., while he was stationed at Edgewood Arsenal during World War II. She worked as a “Rosey the Riveter” at the Glen L. Martin Bomber Plant during that time. After the war, they returned to Iowa, where she assisted in the family garage and trucking business. She was employed by Moore Business Forms in Iowa City for over 20 years, retiring in 1987.
Luella enjoyed gardening and playing euchre. For several years she was activities volunteer at the Solon Care Center. She liked to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes football games. She especially enjoyed her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Luella was a member of the Solon American Legion Ladies Auxiliary, past president of the Oxford American Legion Auxiliary, member of the Catholic Foresters, and St. Mary's Catholic Church in Oxford.
She is survived by sons, Leonard F. (Merry) of Solon and John (Patricia) of Tama; grandchildren, Sherry (Jerry) Reichenbach of North Liberty, Evan (Elisha) TePoel of Solon, Todd TePoel of Denver, Colo., Duane (Brenda) TePoel and Johna (Dave) Nelson of Minnesota; nine great-grandchildren, Brandon and Logan McNeal, Fiona and Isobel TePoel, Cameron, Jordan and Lucas TePoel and Travis and Mandy Nelson; a sister, Winifred Holland of Iowa City; plus numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; brothers, William Spratt, Richard Spratt and Bernard Spratt; sister, Genevieve McDaniel; and twin sister, Anna Mary Gorvin.
Memorials may be directed to the family.
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