Alta Mae (Farrington) Gilbert

ALTA MAE (FARRINGTON) GILBERT

Olin

Alta Mae (Farrington) Gilbert, 97, of Olin, passed away on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019, at the Anamosa Care Center. Funeral services:

10:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 4, at Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services in Mount Vernon, by Pastor Ron Lashmit. Visitation will be after 9 a.m. on Monday at the funeral home. Burial: Rose Hill Cemetery, Mechanicsville, Iowa.

Surviving Alta Mae are three sisters, June Garton of Anamosa, Joyce Farrington of Olin and Norma Wilson of Puyallup, Wash.; one brother, Wayne (Judy) Farrington of Australia; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ron; parents; brother, Glenn Farrington; and sister, Ferne Eales.

Alta Mae was born Feb. 12, 1922, on the family homestead farm near Olin, the daughter of Samuel "U.S." and Myrtle (Jackson) Farrington. She attended Evergreen Country School and graduated from Mechanicsville High School in 1939. Alta Mae graduated from Cornell College and received a Master of Education from Drake University. Her first teaching assignment was a one-room school near West Branch called Owl Point, then other country schools in Tipton and near Clarence at Harmony Point.

She married Samuel Ronald Gilbert in 1951 in Mechanicsville. The couple moved to Polo, Ill., where they farmed the family farm for seven years, moved to Fontanelle, and then Clear Lake, Iowa, in 1961, where Alta Mae taught for the next 25 years. In 2008, the couple moved to Olin.

Alta Mae enjoyed nature, especially bird watching and flower and vegetable gardening. She also did many handiwork crafts, with knitting and sewing being her specialty.

A special thank-you to the Anamosa Care Center for their excellent care of Alta Mae.

Memorials are suggested to the Anamosa Care Center or Mechanicsville Ambulance.

Please share your support and memories with Alta Mae's family on her tribute wall at www.stewartbaxter.com under obituaries.