Utterback, Esther I.

Esther I. Utterback, 86, of Toledo, passed away Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, at Carrington Place of Toledo under the care of Iowa River Hospice. Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 24, at Christ United Methodist Church Worship Center in Toledo. Interment will follow at Woodlawn Cemetery in Toledo. Visitation will be from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home in Tama.

Esther was born June 21, 1925, on a farm north of Toledo, to Lester and Edith (Miller) Emerson. She spent all of her life in the Toledo area, attending Toledo Public School and graduating in 1943, with a certificate to teach rural school. She taught for nine years in rural schools around Toledo, worked at the Rexall Drug Store, United Food Market and was Toledo City Clerk.

On Oct. 18, 1970, she married Ralph Utterback at Otterbein Methodist Church in Toledo. She was an active member of the church and Toledo Rebekah Lodge and was active in the Toledo-Tama Kiwanis Club of which Ralph was a member.

Preceding her in death were her parents; her husband, Ralph on Sept. 17, 2006; two brothers, Kenneth and Russell; and two sisters, Thelma (Ellsworth) Jorgensen and Mildred Emerson.

Survivors include one sister, Doris (Jack) McClure of Tama; three stepchildren, Beth (Steven) Dowd of Coralville, Barb (Duane) Kuenstling of Waterloo and the Rev. Bill Utterback of Seattle, Wash.; three grandchildren, Philip (Amy) Dowd of Tulsa, Okla., Sarah Dowd of Cedar Rapids and Shelley (Paul) Beers of Ankeny; and three great-grandchildren.

Memorials may be directed to Iowa River Hospice and Christ United Methodist Church.

Published Oct. 22, 2011, in The Gazette