Bender, Ethel M.

Ethel M. Bender, 101, of Brookfield, Wis., formerly of Keswick, died Saturday, Jan. 23, 2010, at Care-Age of Brookfield in Brookfield, Wis. Funeral mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Mary Catholic Church, Sigourney, with the Rev. Charles Fladung officiating. Burial will be at St. Mary Cemetery, Sigourney. Visitation will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Powell Funeral Home, Sigourney, where there will be a wake service at 6 p.m.

Ethel was born Sept. 30, 1908, in Keswick, to John and Catherine (Dawson) Wright and graduated from Ottumwa Heights Academy and Ottumwa Heights Junior College. Before marriage she taught in St. Joseph's High School at Neola for two years, and then worked for nine years in Des Moines in the Iowa Bankers Association becoming secretary to the superintendent of the Iowa State Banking Department. On Oct. 2, 1937, she married Francis Bender in Oxford. The couple made their home in Keswick, and enjoyed wintering in Florida until Francis' death in 1995, when Ethel moved to Wisconsin. She was active member of Our Lady of Lourdes Church and in Keswick civic and community affairs. Ethel had a passion for Scrabble and continued playing until the time of her death.

Survivors include four daughters, Joan Burke of Big Bend, Wis., Janice Bender of Des Moines, Elizabeth Bender of Milwaukee, Wis., and Rebecca Robbins of Salt Lake City, Utah; two sons, F. Eugene Bender of Cedar Rapids, and Robert Bender of Wichita, Kan.; 13 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Winifred Wright of Venice Fla.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Francis; brother, Harold; and sisters, Helen, Mary, Lucille and Geraldine.

Memorials may be made to the Hospice of Keokuk County or the Pleasant Grove Cemetery Association.

Powell Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Sigourney is caring for Ethel and her family.

Condolences may be left at under obituaries.