Madsen, Adelaide Marie

Adelaide Marie Madsen, 86, of Iowa City, died Friday, May 27, 2011, at Oaknoll Retirement Residence in Iowa City. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 18, at Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City, followed by a time of fellowship and refreshments at the funeral home. Burial will take place at Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City.

Adelaide was born Oct. 29, 1924, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the daughter of Aaron and Nomie (Petersen) Madsen. Following graduation from Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs in 1942, she attended and later graduated from Iowa State University in Ames in 1946, with her major being in mathematics. Here she was inducted in to the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society for life. Adelaide spent her entire professional career with the U.S. Navy Department in Washington, D.C. She served as special assistant to Rear Admiral Wayne Myers who was project manager of the Aegis system.

She was a longtime member of the National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C., where she sang in the choir. In 1998, she moved to Iowa City, where she became a member of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.

Adelaide enjoyed traveling, ocean cruises, Elder Hostels in foreign countries, playing cards, but most dear to her was her family and many dear friends whom she loved very much.

Her family includes her brother, Donald H. Madsen and his wife, Jeanette, of Cedar Rapids; nephews, Nels Madsen and his wife, Fran, of Auburn, Ala., and Erik Madsen and his wife, Chris, of Cedar Rapids; and a special friend to Adelaide, whom she considered as family, Eric Hedlund, of Silver Spring, Md.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made in her memory to Alzheimer's Association.

Online condolences may be sent for her family through the web at