MARY ISABELL ORWIG

Rolfe — Mary Isabell Orwig, 84, of Rolfe, died on August 11, 2005, at the Rolfe Care Center.

Funeral services were 10 am., Saturday, August 13, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Rolfe with the Pastor Tess Panamarow officiating. Burial was at Memorial Park Cemetery at Sioux City.

Born September 27, 1920, in Gilmore City to Thomas Wesley (Wes) Van Alstine and Mary Isabell Downey, Isabell was baptized at the Methodist Church there. After graduating from Gilmore City High School, she worked in Fort Dodge at Lutheran Hospital and Lang and Brody Mfg. Isabell married Clarence Francis (Barney) Orwig, a Gunnery Sgt. in the United States Marine Corps, on March 30, 1942. They moved to San Diego (where she worked at Consolidated Aircraft) and later to New River, N.C., and Parris Island, S.C. Alter the war, the couple farmed east of Gilmore City for three years, and then for 23 years on a farm between Rolfe and West Bend. After living in Rolfe for three years, they moved to Sioux City in 1975. Francis passed away there on his 68th birthday, December 18, 1983. After the Perry Creek Flood destroyed their home in 1990, she moved to Stewart Avenue in Sioux City, and in 2004 to the Care Center in Rolfe.

Besides raising six children and helping farm, Isabell was the family genealogist, and catered over a thousand wedding, anniversary, and birthday cakes. She enjoyed quilting, crocheting, knitting, and tatting, as well as drawing and sculpting. She was a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Sioux City.

She was preceded in death by her parents: brother Thomas Wesley: sisters Ruth Jane and Myrtle Sabo; and husband Francis.

Isabell is survived by her six children and their spouses: the Rev. John and Nancy Orwig of Buffalo, Wyo.; Mary and Charles Miller, Sioux City; Rebecca and Roger Arnburg, Sioux City; Patricia and William Alexander of Laurens; Daniel and Karen Orwig of Rolfe; and Timothy Orwig and the Rev. Alan Hesse of Worcester, Mass.; as well as family friends Colleen Benson and Barbara, Matt and Katie Alsager of Lee’s Summit, Mo. She has 16 grandchildren: John Orwig: Laura Schiller; Suzana Haerzen; Molly and Elizabeth Miller; Scott, Sean, Jason, and Thomas Arnburg; Ken Aschenbrenner; Jason and Jessica Kluver; Keton Alexander: and Sarah, Charity, and Aaron Orwig; and 14 great-grandchildren: Mark, Ryan, Joey, Ty, Katelynn, Benjamin, Rhianna, Carter, Cassidy, Dayton, Isaiah, Ashley, Halley and Hannah.