116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Obituaries
The Gazette publishes obituaries on a daily basis. Use the search field above to search for obituaries by name or keyword. Readers can submit an obituary or submit a milestone to The Gazette. The obituary must be submitted before 1 p.m. for publication on thegazette.com at 6 p.m. and in the daily edition the next day, with the exception of obituaries for Sunday publication, which must be submitted by 1 p.m. on Fridays.
Yoder, Ellen L.
Ellen L. Yoder, 87, died suddenly Saturday, July 9, 2011, at the Pleasantview Home, Kalona. Celebration of Life Service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 13, at the Kalona Mennonite Church. The Rev. Scott Swartzendruber will officiate. Private family graveside service will be held before the service in the Sharon Hill Cemetery, Kalona. Visitation will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Yoder-Powell Funeral Home, Kalona, where the family will greet friends from 4 to 7 p.m.
A memorial fund has been established for Kalona Mennonite Church and Pleasantview Home.
Ellen was born June 7, 1924, in rural Kalona, the daughter of Sherman and Emma (Miller) Miller. She attended rural Prairie Dale School. In her youth she accepted Christ as her Savior and was baptized at the East Union Mennonite Church. On Oct. 14, 1944, she was united in marriage to Duane E. Yoder at the East Union Mennonite Church. She had lived in the Kalona community all of her life. In 1954, Ellen and Duane opened Duane's Feed Service in Kalona, they owned and operated the Kalonial Townhouse restaurant from 1968 to 1974, and Ellen owned and operated Ellen's Sewing Center from 1975 to 2006. She was a member of the Kalona Mennonite Church and the Kalona Optimist Club. She enjoyed to sew and she embroidered a quilt for all of her grandchildren when they got married and she made a baby quilt for each of her great grandchildren.
Ellen is survived by seven children, LaVerta Butterbaugh (David) of Kalona, Jerry Yoder (Liz) of Bridgewater, Va., Susan Gingerich (Firman) of Perkasie, Pa., Jane Borntrager (Ivan) of Goshen, Ind., Miller D. Yoder of Wilton, Wis., Verle Yoder (Helen) of Valley Center, Calif., and Colette Ferguson (Don) of Kalona; 17 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Nita Miller (Daniel) of Kalona, and Barbara Eichelberger of Hesston, Kan.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her stepmother, Ida; her husband; two sons-in-law; a granddaughter-in-law; and a sister, Ruby Schrock.
Messages may be sent to the family at .
Daily Newsletters