Leola 'Lee' Strempke, 80
Leola "Lee" Strempke age 80 of New Hampton, formerly of Sumner, died Thursday, June 28, 2018, at her home.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 3, 2018, at Holy Family Parish, New Hampton with Msgr. Carl Schmitt celebrating the Mass. Interment will be in Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Sumner.
Friends may greet the family 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Monday, July 2, 2018, at the Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home in New Hampton where there will be a 6:30 p.m. parish scripture service. Visitation continues an hour prior to the Mass at the church on Tuesday. Online condolences for Lee's family may be left at hugebackfuneralhome.com
Leola “Lee” Christina Strempke was born March 17, 1938, on the Jones family farm outside Waucoma, IA, the daughter of Clarence and Tilly (Bouska) Jones. She received her education in rural country school and attended the Sumner High School. Lee met her future husband, Roland R. Strempke, at the Littleton Tavern in Littleton, IA, owned by her grandmother, Lidwina Kemp. The couple was married on November 16, 1954, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Sumner. To this union seven children were born. The couple initially lived in both Winthrop and Jesup, IA before moving to the acreage near Sumner where they spent the next 50 years. Roland died on September 26, 1996 after 42 years of marriage. Lee remained on the farm until 2015, moving to her home in New Hampton.
Throughout her life, Lee worked for many businesses beginning in Jesup where she worked at an egg candling facility and also in a poultry factory. She sold for the Fuller Brush Company, had a bakery in her home, drove the Sumner Bakery truck and loved taking her boys on deliveries and singing country songs to them along the way. Her passion was cooking and baking and she also worked at Joan & Al’s Supper Club in Oelwein, the Hospital in Sumner and as a cook and waitress at the Westgate Bar and Grill as well as Country Kitchen in Oelwein. She and her husband owned Lee & Red’s Cheyenne Club in Sumner for many years and then worked for Americana and later retired from the Tripoli Nursing Home.
Lee loved her children and loved spending time with them at all ages. She was a working mother but always made time to bake for her growing family, especially banana bread and cinnamon rolls. She enjoyed reading and had a passion for collecting items including; cookbooks, beer steins, John Wayne memorabilia, crystal and roosters. She collected and collected and never threw anything away. Her greatest accomplishment was being a mother and grandmother to her family, who believed she was second to none and loved her beyond words.
Lee is survived by six children; Scott (Sandy) Strempke of Sumner, IA, David (Dale) Strempke of Allenhurst, GA, Clint Strempke of Wisconsin, Angela (Rick) Ohlendorf of Greensboro, NC and Lisa (Roger) Wilker of New Hampton, Dawn (Michael) Piersson of Arizona; daughter-in-law, Carma Strempke of Manchester; fourteen grandchildren; twenty-five great-grandchildren; special friend for the last 18 years, Bob Erenberger of Prairie du Chien, WI; two brothers, Leo (Linda) Jones of Hawkeye and Robert Jones of Des Moines; two sisters, Rachel Johnson of Liberty, MO and Dorothy Baker of Rockaway Beach, MO; sisters-in-law, Peggy Jones, Daisy Jones and Sharon Jones, all of Sumner.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; son, Roger Strempke; daughter-in-law, Marlys Strempke; granddaughter, Megan Kessler; sister, Mary Anderson; three brothers, Ralph, Kenny and Roger Jones.
