Verda Wrage

Verda D. Wrage, 87, of Reinbeck , Iowa , died Thursday, November 13, 2008, at the Grundy Care Center , in Grundy Center , Iowa , while under the care of Cedar Valley Hospice. Funeral services will be 11:00 A.M., Monday, November 17, 2008, at the Union Congregational United Church of Christ in Reinbeck, with Reverend Joel Love officiating. Burial will follow at Maple Hill Cemetery , rural Gladbrook , Iowa . Visitation will be Sunday, November 16, 2008, from

2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M., at French Hand Funeral Home in Reinbeck, where the family will be present to greet friends. A memorial fund has been established.

Verda Dorothy Wrage was born March 31, 1921, the daughter of John and Freida (Billerbeck) Wrage, at her parent’s home, near Beaman , Iowa . She received her education in Beaman, graduating from Beaman High School with the class of 1939. After graduation, Verda stayed at home to help raise her three brothers and one sister after their mother died. Verda cared for her siblings until 1955, when she moved to Reinbeck to make her home. She became employed for Harold Petersen at Petersen Produce in Reinbeck. Verda worked there for over twenty years. She then went to work at Parkview Manor Nursing Home in Reinbeck, until she retired during the latter part of the 1980’s.

Verda was a member of the Union Congregational United Church of Christ in Reinbeck, where she had been a former member of the Merry Makers. She loved to play cards, especially 500, and she loved fishing at Leech Lake with her family. Verda was also a wonderful cook. She enjoyed vegetable and flower gardening and was an avid Iowa Hawkeyes and Chicago Cubs fan. Verda will be remembered by her family as a mother and grandmother, rather than a sister and an aunt.

She is survived by her sister, Helen “Tootie” Harris and her husband Robert of Reinbeck, Iowa ; her brother, Marvin Wrage and his wife Marge of Waverly, Iowa ; two sisters-in-law, Arlene Wrage of Traer , Iowa ; Darlene Wrage of Reinbeck , Iowa ; and many nieces and nephews and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents; four brothers: Larry, Lester, Lawrence & Sheridan “Bill” Wrage; and one sister, LaWaynna Claussen.