Steele, Gertrude Sweeney

Gertrude Sweeney Steele, 98, of Cedar Rapids, died Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. Funeral Mass: 10 a.m. Monday at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Cedar Rapids. Visitation will be on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. at Cedar Memorial Westside Chapel, where a rosary will start at 2:30 p.m. Burial: 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Waukon.

Gertrude was the eldest child of Peter and Mary (McCroden) Sweeney. She was born March 22, 1912, on the Sweeney farm in Lycurgus near Waukon, Iowa. The family moved to Waukon when she was 12 years old. She worked at the A&P Grocery Store while completing her studies at St. Patrick School in Waukon. She graduated with honors in 1932 from nursing school at St. Charles Hospital in Aurora, Ill., where she served as class president and class historian. She then returned to Waukon to practice nursing and was married to her childhood sweetheart, Daniel J. Steele, at St. Patrick Church on July 17, 1934, in Waukon.

Before settling in Cedar Rapids in 1941, she and her husband lived in Ames, where she continued working as a private duty nurse. In Cedar Rapids she operated Steele's Nursing Home for 10 years and served two terms as district president of the Iowa Nursing Home Association. Later she worked as the office nurse for Dr. James Flynn Sr. and care giver for Mr. Adam Pietz for six years.

After Dan began working for Holiday Inn in 1960, her dream of traveling and moving West was realized. They began in Dubuque and spent the next 17 years living in Utah, California, Texas, Arkansas and Nebraska before returning to East Dubuque to manage Timmerman's Motel. Their final move was to Cedar Rapids in August 1977.

Gertrude was known to be generous with her time and caring toward those who needed help. She volunteered at the Witwer Senior Center as well as within her apartment community. She was a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church, where she was active in the Altar and Rosary Society, The Legion of Mary, and member of St. Christopher's Circle.

Survivors include her children, Maury (Mike) Streit of Cedar Rapids, Fred Steele of Wichita, Kan., and Anne (Terrence) Doyle of Neenah, Wis.; a sister, Frances Deter of Winona, Minn.; 16 grandchildren; 33 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Dan; two sisters, Dorothy Sweeney and Mary McCauley; a brother, Clem Sweeney; and two great-grandchildren, Jacob Streit and Arianna Bryer.

A memorial fund has been established for St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids.