Verna Kimberling

VERNA KIMBERLING

Tipton

Verna Kimberling passed away Aug. 12, 2018, at her home in Tipton, just shy of her 104th birthday, on her mother's and her daughter's birthdays. Family and friends are invited to Fry Funeral Home, Tipton, on Friday, Aug. 17, from 4 to 7 p.m. for a time of visitation. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 18, at the First United Church of Christ in Tipton, Iowa. Interment will immediately follow at Red Oak Cemetery. Online condolences may be shared at www.fryfuneralhome.com.

Verna Olive Hale was born Sept. 4, 1914, on a farm near Lamont, Iowa. She attended country school there until her parents, George and Sadie Hale, moved near Delhi, Iowa, where she graduated with the Class of 1931. She moved to St. Paul, Minn., where she lived with her sister, Mildred Houck, and worked in a restaurant for several years. She moved back with her parents and, by that time, they had moved to Cedar County, Iowa. While walking to get the mail one day, a young man was driving by and asked her if she wanted a ride home, and eventually she married Vernon Paul Kimberling on Dec. 24, 1935, in Rock Island, Ill. He worked first by the day, then by the month and finally they rented the farm until they bought it in 1964, where they lived until his death. (Her father-in-law started renting that farm in about 1916, then they rented it and then Victor purchased the farm, having a Kimberling living on it for over 100 years.)

She worked hard on the farm raising and dressing chickens, walking bean fields, raising a large garden and canning. Upon coming home from school, she always had freshly baked cookies, cakes or bread for her hungry children.

She was a member of Red Oak King's Daughters and the Red Oak Presbyterian Church until it closed, and then attended the United Church of Christ as long as she was able. She was a member of the DAR and the neighborhood coffee gathering. She and her husband enjoyed dancing. After moving to Tipton, you would find her walking almost every day until she was around 90 years old, and sometimes she and some friends would stop at Hardee's for a snack. She played cards several times per week and read a lot of books. After she broke her hip on her 100th birthday, she started doing the adult coloring books and, when she was 102, she obtained her driver's license. Her mind was very sharp but her body just wore out.

She is survived by her three children, Virginia (Howard) Osborn, Midland, Ohio, Joyce (Robert) Kuhnle, Marengo, Iowa, and Victor Kimberling, rural Mechanicsville, Iowa; seven grandchildren, Kent Osborn, Iowa Falls, Iowa, Scott (Jeannie) Osborn, Bainbridge, Ga., Vicki (Tom) Duski, Mooresville, N.C., Kevin (Elissa) Kuhnle, South Amana, Iowa, Craig (Cassy Jaeger) North English, Iowa, Pamela (John) Freeman, Des Moines, Iowa, and Zach Kimberling; six great-grandchildren, Kayla, Dalton, Aaliyah, Austin, Stephanie and Michael; and four stepgreat-grandchildren, Nora, Carly, Claire and Casen.