Byrdena Boysen

BYRDENA ALFREDA HARMS BOYSEN

Monticello

Byrdena Alfreda Harms Boysen, 81, passed away Friday, April 29, 2016, at the Monticello Nursing and Rehab Center. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 3, at St. Matthew's Church in Monticello with interment at Oakwood Cemetery. Friends may call after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the church. The Rev. Dr. T. Edwards Breed will officiate at the services. Byrdena's care and services have been entrusted to Goettsch Funeral Home, Monticello. Thoughts, memories and condolences may be left at www.goettschonline.com.

Surviving are her children, David (Lynette), Don (Mindy), Terry and Gary (Heidi); and daughter-in-law, Jennifer Boysen, all of Monticello; 16 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; a brother, Galen (Judy) Harms of Anamosa; and three sisters, Joanne Yousee and Dorothy Norton, both of Monticello, and Ruth (Ken) Bowers of Blue Eye, Mo.

She was preceded in death by her loving husband, John J. Boysen, in 2004; her son, Randy, in 2011; her parents; a brother, Louis Harms; and two brothers-in-law, Dale Yousee and Bill Norton.

Byrdena Alfreda Harms was born Nov. 25, 1934, in Monticello, Iowa. She was the daughter of Henry Antone and Minnie Engle Dirks Harms. Byrdena received her education in the Monticello schools. She married John J. Boysen on June 13, 1954, at Wayne Zion Lutheran Church in rural Monticello. Byrdena spent her life babysitting and loved each and every one of the children as her own. She was always known as "Mom" or "Grandma." She enjoyed listening to music, going to dances, yard sales at her house with Bill and Joyce Osterkamp and spending time with friends and family.

The family would like to give a special thanks to Monticello Nursing and Rehab Center for the many years of care and Above and Beyond Hospice for keeping Byrdena comfortable in her final days.