Blondina P. Stoffers

Blondina Pauline Stoffers, age 91, of Carroll and formerly of Arcadia passed away on Tuesday, August 22, 2017 at St. Anthony Nursing Home in Carroll. Funeral service will be held at 4:00 P.M. on Friday, August 25, 2017 at the United Church of Westside with Rev. Robert Cook and Rev. Rikki Sorrensen officiating. Organist for the service will be Janine Kock with special music by Blondina’s grandson Josh Kaler. Casket bearers will be Blondina’s grandchildren: Josh Kaler, Amanda Kaler, Jake Stoffers, Noah Stoffers, Sophie Stoffers, Sadie Stoffers and Nathan Curran. Burial will be in the Westside Cemetery. Visitation will be held at the United Church of Westside from 3:00 P.M. on Friday until the time of service. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home in Carroll and online condolences may be left for the family at www.dahnandwoodhouse.com Blondina, daughter of Peter Dietrich Gehlsen and Pauline (Jahn) Gehlsen, was born on November 2, 1925, on the Gehlsen family farm in Hayes Township, Crawford County, ½ mile east of the Five Mile House. One of ten Gehlsen children, Blondina attended school in Westside, graduating in the Class of 1942. After WWII ended, Blondina attended business school in Omaha, Nebraska and then worked at Boys Town as an office worker. A year later, Blondina moved to Southern California, working as a secretary for a local Los Angeles business. On a trip back to Iowa, Blondina went to a dance at the Five Mile House where she said hello and reacquainted herself to a local young man named Henry “Heinie” Stoffers. After Blondina returned to Los Angeles, Henry began wooing her with a series of love letters. Henry's long distance letter writing campaign was persuasive: on January 29th, 1949, Henry and Blondina were married at St. John's Evangelical Church in Westside. Six children were born to this marriage: James, Beverly, Richard, Melanie, Jay, and Carol, who died in infancy. Shortly after their marriage, Blondina and Henry moved to Arcadia where all of their children were raised. During their forty-five years living in Arcadia, the couple enjoyed going to dances at the Arcadia Legion Ballroom, where Henry was a lifelong member of the American Legion. Blondina was also an active member of the Arcadia Presbyterian Church where she served as a Sunday School teacher as well as an Elder in the church. She also helped out for many years at the family's business in Arcadia, Heinie's Repair, later named Stoffers Oil Co. In her late forties, Blondina became employed at the General Electric plant in Carroll. She enjoyed going to work with her Arcadia friends, making new friends at the plant, and remained employed at General Electric until she was seventy years old. In her spare time, Blondina also enjoyed going to local household auctions and collecting antiques, as well as preparing holiday dinners for her family. Within her immediate family, she was famous for her rhubarb and lemon meringue pies. (Blondina always left a lemon seed in her lemon meringue pie to make sure everyone knew the pie filling was made from scratch.) Later in life, after Henry became ill, the couple moved to Carroll where Henry passed away on April 21, 2002. In 2010, Blondina moved to Swan Place Assisted Living and in 2015 became a resident at St. Anthony Nursing Home, where she passed away on August 22, 2017 at the age of ninety-one. Preceding Blondina in death, besides her husband, infant daughter and parents, were two sisters and their husbands: Florence Sander (Hugo) and Melvina Meyer (Edward), two brothers and their wives: Raymond Gehlsen (Lorraine), Louie Gehlsen (LaVonne), two more brothers: Leonard Gehlsen and Ralph Gehlsen, as well as two brothers-in-law: Lyle Joens and Larry Hanson. Blondina is survived by her five children: Jim (Clark Zellmer) Stoffers of Cathedral City, CA, Beverly (Greg) Kaler of St. Cloud, MN, Richard (Leesa) Stoffers of Coon Rapids, IA, Melanie (Doug) Curran of Geneseo, IL, and Jay (Jennifer) Stoffers of Prior Lake, MN, as well as seven grandchildren: Josh Kaler, Amanda (Brian Ellis) Kaler, Jake Stoffers, Nathan Curran, Noah Stoffers, Sophie Stoffers, and Sadie Stoffers. Blondina is also survived by two sisters: Judy Joens, formerly of Manning, now of Des Moines, and Sandra Hanson of Manilla, Iowa, one brother and sister-in-law, Reynold and Rose Ann Gehlsen of Denison, Iowa, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. Blondina’s family would like to thank the nurses and staff at the St. Anthony Nursing Home Memory Unit for the loving care and support their mother received over the past two years.