Hildegarde P. Dirks

Hildegarde Pauline Dirks, 101, of Grundy Center, Iowa, died on May 15, 2024, under the care of Cedar Valley Hospice at Creekside Living in Grundy Center.  Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, June 7 at the Bethany Presbyterian Church in Grundy Center.  Visitation will be held at the church for one hour prior to the service.  A private family committal will take place at Rose Hill Cemetery.  Memorials may be directed to the family or to a charity of choice.

Hildegarde was born March 4, 1923, in Washington Township, Grundy County, Iowa, the daughter of Peter J. A. Meinert & Marie (Hansen) Meinert.  She attended rural school at Washington #1 in Grundy County through 8th grade, graduated from Grundy Center High School in 1941, then attended AIB in Des Moines before returning to the Grundy Center area where she would spend the remainder of her long life.

Her places of employment in Grundy Center included the School Superintendent's Office (1942), the Farmer's Savings Bank (1942-1948), the United Telephone Company (1969-1982), and briefly at Amoco in Reinbeck (1982).

 Hildegarde married George Lee Dirks on March 15, 1947, at Bethany Presbyterian Church.  The couple raised five children, and Hildegarde was a busy homemaker.  They lived in Grundy Center from (1947-1951), started farming in Black Hawk County in 1952, then moved to a farmstead southeast of Grundy Center in 1956 and farmed there until retirement in 1985.   Hildegarde & George then moved to a home in Grundy Center.  They had been married for 48 years when George died on January 26, 1996.

 Hildegarde has been an active member of Bethany Presbyterian church since 1941.  She was known for her bread baking, the fuitjens cakes she made every New Year’s Day, long walks around Grundy Center, and the many, many books she has read from the Grundy Center Library.  She enjoyed attending school activities for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  What she loved most was when her entire family was able to be together.

Hildegarde is survived by her five children: Janet Dirks of Eldora, Iowa;  Jean (Randy) Thoren, Dennis (Cindy) Dirks, Duane (Bev) Dirks all of Grundy Center; and Darrell (Miriam) Dirks of Tampa, Florida; nine grandchildren: Brent (Angie) Thoren, Laura (Jeremy) Allar, Jordan (Becky) Dirks, Trina (Joshua) Jorgensen, Kylie (Justin) Claycomb, Trent (Jenna) Dirks, Shelby Dirks (Chris Kish), Christiana Dirks and George Dirks; and 20 great-grandchildren: Lainy & Ryker Thoren; Ella & Christian Allar; Lauren, Avery, Sullivan, Contessa & Torrance Dirks; Aaron & Adrian Teckenburg, Alexa & Adele Jorgensen, Zakary & Zena Jorgensen; Jackson, Kai & Ronan Claycomb; Bently & Carter Dirks; and sisters-in-law: Barbara Meinert and Sue Dirks.

She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; sisters Margaret (Herman) Koch, Helen (Ken) Manus, Marie (Max) Whitney; brothers Ted (Gladys) Meinert, John (Mildred) Meinert, Harry Meinert; sisters-in-law: Lois (Harold) Abels and Genevieve (Bud) Schaa; brother-in-law: Ken Dirks; and granddaughter Elisa Riquelme.