Gates, Layde Arlillian 'Lil' Gould

Layde Arlillian “Lil” Gould Gates, 90, of Marengo, died Sunday morning, May 8, 2011, at Rose Haven Nursing Home after a brief illness. Funeral services: 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 11, at Koszta United Methodist Church, Koszta, with the Rev. Katie Dawson officiating. Burial will be in Koszta Cemetery. Visitation: 4 to 7 p.m. today at Kloster Funeral Home, Marengo.

A memorial fund has been established

Layde is survived by her brother, Carol Kelly Gould, Belle Plaine; and six children, Linda (Tom) Kamp, Le Claire, Sandy Rupnow, Ames, Rita Gates, North Liberty, Rick Gates, Marengo, Julie Gates; Belle Plaine, and Steve (Lori) Gates, Neosho, Mo. Also surviving are nine grandchildren, Susan Young and Teresa Suchomel, Iowa City, Gates Kamp, New York, David (Ann) Kamp, Le Clair, Kathy Kamp, Chicago, Mike (Rhonda) Spencer, Phoenix, Matt (Jessica) Spencer, Laurel, Ryan Gates, Maryville, Mo., and Megan Gates, Springfield, Mo.; and 16 great-grandchildren.

Preceding her in death were her husband, Maynard (1999); her parents, Benjamin F. Gould and Layde Eva Sloan Gould; five siblings, Merlin, Margaret, Wilbur, Gregory and Dorothy Gould Herber; and a grandson, James Bowton.

Layde Arlillian “Lil” Gould was born Oct. 30, 1920, in rural Iowa County, south of Belle Plaine, Iowa, the first of seven children born to Benjamin F. and Layde Eva Sloan Gould, farmers. The Goulds and Sloans were among the early settlers to Iowa and Poweshiek counties in the 19th Century. Lil attended and graduated from country school in 1934. She also actively supported her parents, beginning at an early age, through the hard times of the 1920s, the Great Depression, and numerous family illnesses by helping raise her younger siblings, doing household and farm chores for her parents, and working as hired help on neighboring farms to support the family.

As a child, she developed a lifelong passion for music, inspired by her parents and relatives who incorporated music into their work and social lives. School inspired a passion for reading, especially history and geography that later led to her many trips and travel to foreign countries.

Lil worked full-time for a series of farm families until she met and later married a childhood friend, Maynard C. Gates, son of Charles C. and Myrtle (Cronbaugh) Gates, on Dec. 13, 1941, at the Methodist Church in Vinton. Lil and Maynard began farming south of Koszta on one of the Kemler farms, where daughters Linda, Sandra and Rita were born. In 1948, they moved to the Bill Wilkenson farm south of Marengo, where son Rick was born. In 1951, they moved to another Kemler farm, north of Marengo, near the old brick factory, purchasing the farm in 1951 and later the river-bottom land below the farm from Vernon (Honker) Parks in 1953. Here, daughters Julie (1952) and Steve (1955) were born. Together, they farmed there until Maynard retired in 1982. Her consummate bookkeeping skills and personal resilience allowed them to expand their farming enterprise while minimizing debt. Lil remained on the farm until she moved to the Rose Haven Nursing Home, following recovery from cancer, in 2008.

Lil was the consummate host for visiting friends and families. Beautifully landscaped flower beds decorated the yards. The bright colors and fragrant aromas sparked the curiosity of many a grandchild. Coffee, hot cocoa, pastries, and deserts sustained many a conversation into the late afternoon and evening. Lil also made time for a number of volunteer organizations, including the Iowa County Extension Service and actively supported her children's school activities in band, chorus, football, and track. She eventually fulfilled her lifelong dream for American and International travel. With her egg money and other savings, she planned family vacations to the Rocky Mountains and Great Lakes. Her travels eventually took her to over 12 foreign countries on three different continents, including a walk on the Great Wall of China and a lap around the site of the ancient Olympic Games in Greece.

Her early life during hard times tempered a resilience that sustained her for 90 years, during which she not only raised a family, but nurtured grandchildren, lost her husband, beat cancer, and lived independently until moving to Rose Haven. Her passion for music sustained her at the nursing home where she inspired the residents with her dancing and singing. Lil was loved by her family and will be missed by all those who knew her as sister, farmwife, historian, mother, grandmother, or friend.

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