{"id":2346,"date":"2017-02-10T11:45:28","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T17:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/?p=2346"},"modified":"2017-02-16T15:47:16","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T21:47:16","slug":"anita-parsons-west-union-iowa-february-10-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/2017\/02\/anita-parsons-west-union-iowa-february-10-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Anita Parsons, West Union, Iowa, February 10, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Anita (Steffens) Parsons, 95, of Eldorado, Iowa (formerly of Henderson, Nevada) passed away Friday, February 10, 2017 at the Good Samaritan Society in West Union, Iowa. Rozella Anita, the daughter of Edward and Frieda (Vagts) Steffens, was born January 25, 1922 on the family farm near Eldorado, Iowa.\u00a0 She was baptized March 5, 1922 and confirmed April 14, 1935 at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Eldorado.\u00a0 Anita attended Dover School #4 and graduated from West Union High School in 1940. She received normal teacher training at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa and was a country schoolteacher.\u00a0 Anita attended summer classes at Upper Iowa University and earned a Bachelor\u2019s Degree in Education. She then taught elementary school in Tripoli, Postville, and Decorah.<\/p>\n

While teaching in the Decorah School District she met Gerald Jack Parsons, a fellow teacher.\u00a0 They were united in marriage on June 16, 1962 and moved to Henderson, Nevada in 1963 where they taught for the Clark County School District.\u00a0 Anita started her career in Henderson as an elementary classroom teacher and later became an elementary librarian until her retirement.<\/p>\n

Education was important to Anita.\u00a0 She began additional graduate level coursework and earned her master\u2019s degree in library science.\u00a0 She worked with many children, helping them improve their reading skills as well as instilling in them a love for books.\u00a0 Anita and Jack were enthusiastic readers and visitors to their home would often find them reading.\u00a0 They also enjoyed sharing their literary adventures with family and friends.<\/p>\n

Faith was also very important to Anita. She was very involved with her church, teaching Sunday School, attending Bible Study, and belonging to circle.<\/p>\n

Anita and Jack also enjoyed going out for dinner, attending shows in Las Vegas, and spending time with friends.\u00a0 They also took great pleasure in entertaining family from Iowa.<\/p>\n

After Jack\u2019s death in 1998, Anita moved back to Eldorado and lived in her parent\u2019s former home.\u00a0 In 2011 she moved to an apartment at Cedar Court in West Union.\u00a0 She eventually moved to assisted living at Stoney Brook and finally to the Good Samaritan Society, shortly before her death.\u00a0 One of her favorite things after her return from Nevada, was getting together with her cousins for a monthly luncheon. She also enjoyed going to the Nordic Fest Activities in Decorah with her sister, Edna for many years.<\/p>\n

Anita is survived by her brothers, Reuben (Mary) Steffens of Clermont, Iowa; Erbie Steffens of Decorah, Iowa; and Lester Steffens of West Union, Iowa; her nieces, Brenda (Mark) Steffens-Johnson, Robin Hansen, Cheryl (Don) Wagner, and Karen (Mark) Vandegrift; her nephews, Larry (Karen) Steffens, Alan (Brenda) Steffens, Ray (Pam) Steffens, Gary (Teresa) Steffens, Kevin (Marilyn) Steffens, Keith (Tannis) Steffens, Mark Steffens, and Brad (Melanie) Steffens; as well as many great nieces and great nephews.<\/p>\n

Anita was preceded in death by her husband, Jack Parsons; her parents, Edward and Frieda; her sister, Edna; and her sisters-in-law, Leona and Geraldine Steffens.<\/p>\n

Funeral Services <\/strong>will be held 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at St. Peter Lutheran Church, Eldorado, Iowa.\u00a0 Rev. Ginny Olson will be the officiant.<\/p>\n

Visitation <\/strong>will be held at 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., on Monday, February 13, 2017 at Burnham-Wood-Grau Funeral Home in West Union, Iowa and one hour before services at the church on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Interment <\/strong>will be held at St. Peter Lutheran Cemetery, Eldorado, Iowa.<\/p>\n

Burnham-Wood-Grau Funeral Home and Cremation Service, West Union, Iowa is helping the family with the arrangements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anita (Steffens) Parsons, 95, of Eldorado, Iowa (formerly of Henderson, Nevada) passed away Friday, February 10, 2017 at the Good Samaritan Society in West Union, Iowa. Rozella Anita, the daughter of Edward and Frieda (Vagts) Steffens, was born January 25, 1922 on the family farm near Eldorado, Iowa.\u00a0 She was baptized March 5, 1922 and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[150],"class_list":["post-2346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obituaries","tag-parsons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2346"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2399,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions\/2399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}