Ona Lee Elsie Iverson

Ona Lee Elsie Iverson

Ona Lee (Onee) Elsie Iverson died at her home north of Sioux City, Iowa, on September 6, 2023.  Funeral Services will be held on Friday, September 15, at 6:00 p.m. at First Lutheran Church, 3939 Cheyenne Blvd., Sioux City, Iowa with Pastor Kristine Stedje officiating. A nourishing visitation will be held in the church Fellowship Hall before the services – from 4-6 p.m. Interment will be at a later date at Our Savior’s Cemetery, Kiester, Minnesota.

Ona was born January 31, 1930, in Kiester, Minnesota, the youngest of four daughters of George and Elsie (Bartz) Wittman.  She was baptized and confirmed at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Kiester.  She graduated as valedictorian of her class from Kiester High School in 1948 and attended Gustavus Adolphus College at St. Peter, Minnesota, from 1948-1951.

On February 10, 1951, she and Roger D. Iverson were married at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Kiester, Minnesota. They had 63 happy years together and were blessed with three wonderful children:  Joan Louise, Richard Matthew, and Neal Roger. The family lived on the Iverson family farm in Minnesota, and in Rolfe, Emmons, Cedar Falls, Buffalo Center, Denison and Ames before moving to Sioux City, Iowa, in 1968.  Ona then completed her college education at Briar Cliff College, graduating in 1971. She taught fifth grade at Hunt and Clark schools for 19 years, retiring in 1990.  She enjoyed her students a great deal and hoped to pass on to them her love of reading, history, and music.  The spring musicals she wrote and directed with her classes were the highlight of each year for her and (she hoped) her students, whose talents often blossomed as they performed.

She was a member of First Lutheran Church, Lydia Circle, and Thursday Book Study Group, and served on various boards and committees there.  She was active in and had served on the boards of League of Women Voters, Sierra Club, Friends of the Sioux City Library, Interprofessional Institute of Sioux City and the Sioux City Education Association, which she served for a year as president.  She was active in the Democratic Party, serving on the Central Committees of Plymouth and Woodbury counties.

Ona was an avid reader her whole life, belonged to the Bard of Avon book club and AAUW Women Who Read, and loved discussing books and ideas with her friends.  She and Roger traveled in Europe and Mexico, and they attended more than a dozen Elderhostels across the United States after they retired.  Ona loved the Loess Hills and the acreage she and Roger lived on there, and she enjoyed camping, hiking and traveling, especially in the mountains, national parks, and national forests of the American West.  She greatly enjoyed music, had sung in several choral groups, and loved playing the piano.

Her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were a great source of love, pride, and joy to her, and she delighted in their aspirations and achievements though the years.

Those left to cherish her memory include a daughter and her husband, Joan Iverson Nassauer and Robert Nassauer of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a son, Richard Iverson of Hood River, Oregon, and a son and his wife, Neal Iverson and Kathy Kramer of Ames, Iowa.  She is also survived by four grandchildren: Sarah Nassauer and her husband Jerome Tagger of Hudson, New York, Mae Nassauer of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Joe Iverson of Pasadena, California, and Ellen Iverson of Burlingame, California, by two great-grandchildren: Aida and Nica Tagger, a sister-in-law, Helen Brudvig of Hastings, Minnesota, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Ona was preceded in death by her husband, Roger, her parents, her three sisters, Helen Strohschein, Hazel Kepple, and Lois Matson, her six brothers-in-law, Al Strohschein, Paul Kepple, Elton Matson, Wallace Brudvig, Ed Nelson, and Orion Iverson, her sister-in-law Frances Nelson, her parents-in-law Adolph and Mabel Iverson, and her nephew, Charles Matson.

Memorials may be directed to the Special Music Department of First Lutheran Church, Sioux City, the Nature Conservancy for Loess Hills Preservation in the Broken Kettle Grasslands, Plymouth County, or Hospice of Siouxland.