Patricia A. Bode, 67 of Charles City, passed away peacefully on Tuesday morning, July 12, 2011, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minn.
A funeral Mass for Patricia Bode will be held 10:30 a.m. Monday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Charles City. Reverend Carl Ries will celebrate the Mass. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Charles City.
Friends may call at the Hauser Funeral Home in Charles City from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday where the Rosary will be prayed at 3 p.m. and Scriptural Prayer Service will be held at 6:30 p.m. Visitation will continue an hour before the Mass at the church on Monday.
Patricia Ann Harker was born Sept. 28, 1943, in Spencer, Iowa, and a few years later, her family moved to Ocheyedan, Iowa. She attended Ocheyedan schools, graduating in 1961, and continued education at Worthington Junior College and University of Iowa, graduating in 1967 with a degree in social work. On November 13, 1965, she was united in marriage to Allan (Al) Bode at St. Thomas More in Iowa City. She worked as a kindergarten/classroom aide at Washington Elementary, before going to the junior high/middle school and finally the high school as a library assistant with 39 years of service, retiring in 2008. Patricia loved traveling, nature, music and the fine arts, attending basketball and softball games, gardening, cooking and movies, especially foreign films. She enjoyed collecting small boxes from other countries and unusual kaleidoscopes. She visited all but 7 states, lived in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1972 as well as accompanied students to Mexico several times. Her greatest love was reading and she always had a book with her on her Kindle in recent times. Patricia served on the Community Concerts Board, Public Library Board and was a long time member of the original Stony Point Players and the Sweet Adelines barbershop group. She was very active in the Iowa State Education association, serving in governance in local, regional and state levels. Education was her main priority.
Living family members include her husband of 45 years, Allan “Al”; two sons, Sean (Patricia), of Mazomanie, WI, Christopher (Joy), of Dubuque; five grandchildren, Tristan, Marissa, Victoria, Alexandria, and Sophia; two sisters, Elnora (Howard) Baker, Storm Lake, Pauline (Bob) Zabka, Swea City, a brother, John, and special friend Donna Evenson, Dawson, MN; mother-in-law, Marjorie Bode, Algona; two sisters-in-law, Jan (Allen) Christensen, Iowa City, Alice (Herb) McBride, Tucson, AZ; two brothers-in-law, Russell (Maggie) Bode, Algona, and Philip (Ann) Bode, Baton Rouge, LA., and numerous nieces and nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Rolland and Cleeata Harker.
The Hauser Funeral Home, (641) 228-2323, in Charles City, is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.hauserfh.com.
