Alice De Rycke

ALICE A. DE RYCKE

Belle Plaine

Alice A. De Rycke, 75, of Belle Plaine, passed away after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer on Monday, Oct. 26, 2015, at Marengo Memorial Hospital. A visitation will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Smith Funeral Home in Victor. A Scripture service will be held at 2 p.m. and will be followed by a rosary. Mass of the Resurrection will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30, at St. Bridget Catholic Church in Victor with Father Brian Shepley officiating. Interment will be at Calvary Cemetery in Victor.

Memorials may be designated to the Alice DeRycke Memorial Fund and mailed in care of the Smith Funeral Home, P.O. Box 485, Victor, IA 52347.

Alice was born on June 14, 1940, to August and Jennie (Wauters) Facile in Grinnell, Iowa. She graduated from Montezuma High School with the class of 1958. She earned a nursing degree from Mercy College in Iowa City in 1961. On Sept. 1, 1962, she was united in marriage to Don De Rycke at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Brooklyn and the couple lived in rural Belle Plaine. The couple was blessed with three children.

Alice was active in politics and was currently the chairwoman for the Republican Party, a position she had held for several years. She volunteered and was a part of many organizations in the community, which included vice president for Right to Life, hospice nurse, ambulance service, Iowa County supervisor, school board for HLV Community High School, judicial committee, landfill board, Altar & Rosary Society, Marion Study Club, Red Hats and parish nurse. She had taught religious education for 19 years.

Family and faith were most important to Alice. She was a caring person who always had a smile on her face and a hug to offer to everyone. She enjoyed traveling with her husband throughout the United States and also to Europe and Canada. She also enjoyed reading, watching western movies, caring for the animals and spending time with her grandchildren.

Those left to cherish her memory are her husband of 53 years, Don De Rycke of Belle Plaine; children, Dan (Jill) De Rycke of Victor, Randy (Kristi) De Rycke of Belle Plaine and Ann (De Rycke) Drown of Altoona; sister, Delaine Roorda of Oskaloosa; and grandchildren, Erynn, Molly, Noah, Rachel, Ryan, Reghan De Rycke and Colby and Kori Drown.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Albert Facile; and sisters, Mary Van Gorp and Germaine Schmidt.