Tracie Rae Garbes Edelen

Tracie Rae Garbes Edelen, 35, of Clear Lake, IA and formerly of Charles City, IA, passed away Thursday, September 22, 2011 in a hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Africa following recent health complications.

Memorial services will be held 2:00 pm, Friday, October 14, 2011 at Fullerton Hage Funeral Home, 401 Blunt, Charles City, Iowa. Officiating will be the Rev. Joyce Sandberg of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Waverly. Visitation will be one hour prior to services at the funeral home. Inurnment will be at a later date in Osage Cemetery. Those wishing to extend memorials or expressions of sympathy may direct them to the Tracie R. Edelen Memorial Fund. Condolences and stories may be shared with the family at visitation, at www.Fullertonfh.com or Facebook.com/Fullertonfuneralhome. A luncheon will be offered at the Knights of Columbus Hall following the service.

Tracie was born on September 17, 1976 in Charles City to parents, Roger and Barbara (Head) Garbes, when they lived in Nashua. She was baptized at First United Methodist Church, Nashua and attended kindergarten and first grade before she and Barb moved to Charles City in 1984. She took piano lessons as a youngster and enjoyed playing alto sax in the school bands. She also wrote for the Charles City Highlights newspaper. Tracie and her Grandma Donna Mae had a very special relationship and spent much time together. During high school, Tracie waitressed three years at Granny’s Kitchen and enjoyed serving her customers there. She was recognized in Who’s Who Among American High School Students nationwide, and received the Senior Achievement Award in her graduating class of 1995. Tracie moved to Phoenix that summer where she worked as Assistant Office Manager for Doubletree Guest Suites Hotel for 3-1/2 years. She met many interesting people there including outfielderJose Herrera of the Oakland A’s baseball team. She once drove alone across country to see Jose play in New York, and traveled to his homeland in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic several times. Leaving Arizona in 1999, Tracie returned to Ft. Dodge and began working as Home Store Manager for Younkers. She had quite a flair for managing her team, fashion/merchandising/designing store setups, and received many accolades for exceeding sales projections. She attended Iowa Central Community College for business management courses. Upon moving to Des Moines in 2003, she took a position with the historical Hotel Fort Des Moines as Front Office Operations Manager. During that time, she also was a promotions ambassador for Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Altoona. Tracie was elated to be featured in TV commercials and on several Des Moines area billboards as a “Giddy-up Girl” on their dance team.

Always striving to better herself professionally, Tracie obtained her Iowa Real Estate License and was a sales associate for Next Generation Realty and Hunziker & Associate Realtors in Ankeny. She sold several high-dollar homes in the area during 2005-2006. Tracie worked hard but also loved spending time with friends, her Dad, Susan and family, shopping, reading and traveling. She accompanied her Dad’s family on their yearly summer vacations and visited Fort Lauderdale several times when her mother lived there.

On June 3, 2006, Tracie was united in marriage to Michael Edelen. Tracie worked with Mike in his Ankeny construction business helping to design new homes and loved picking out the interior finishes. They had two Bichons named Chloe and Lilly who were the light of her life. In 2006, Tracie was employed by CBK, Ltd., a home décor/gift wholesale distributor, as the IA District Account Manager servicing 200 retail stores. She later worked from home taking a District Sales Manager position with Avon which entailed traveling extensively to the East Coast. Following their divorce, Tracie served as Marilyn’s Hallmark store manager in Altoona. She eventually hired her Mom and they both enjoyed working there together. In 2009, Tracie joined Barb and her friend Tom in Clear Lake and began working as a beauty consultant for Clinique cosmetics at Younkers, Mason City. Tracie felt she had finally found her ideal career! She loved fashion, sharing beauty tips, giving makeovers and the general camaraderie with her clients. Tracie began experiencing hip/leg pain and after several months, it was determined she had severe bone deterioration. In July 2010, she had double hip replacement at Rochester Methodist Hospital. No words can express the appreciation her family extends to her surgeon, Dr. Rafael J. Sierra, who made the surgery possible and provided her the opportunity to walk again. We thank the Mayo Clinic physicians, Drs. Patrick Loftus, Aravind Sugumar, R. C. Shields, and entire staff of the Mayo Clinic for all their concern and support throughout her many visits the past year and a half. Many thanks go to Rod Schlader and staff of Mason City Mercy Hospital for their help in receiving medical care locally. A special thank you goes to treating physician, Sue Mullenbach, P.A., for her never-ending tenacity and genuinely caring for her patient in need. On August 29^th, Tracie was looking forward to a month-long trip to visit her special friend, Jerome Kisima (formerly from Mason City) and his family in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Tracie and Jerome exchanged vows in a small chapel on her 35^th birthday, September 17. Five days later she was taken to the hospital where she died suddenly. Her parents and family are thankful knowing Tracie was happy the last few weeks of her life traveling to Africa, and that Jerome fulfilled one of her greatest life-long dreams of sharing her love and getting married.

Left to mourn her passing are her husband Jerome of Dar es Salaam; her parents Barbara Garbes of Clear Lake, and Roger (Susan) Garbes of Waverly; half-brother, Ryan Garbes, Iowa City; two step-brothers, Aaron (Kristin) Lentz, their children Abby, Cam and Brody of Louisville, CO; Patrick (Brittney) Lentz and their children Kollyn, Caleb and Lucas of Plainfield; paternal grandparents Raymond and Jeanette Garbes, Nashua; three aunts Linda Sue Baker and Debra (Tom) Clark of Osage, and Janice (Jeff) Edson, Nashua; uncle, Ron (Dawn) Garbes, Nashua; along with their extended families.

She was preceded in death by maternal grandparents Donna and Robert Bertelson, LeRoy Head, her aunt Jean (Garbes) Brown, and special family friend Tom Woodard.

Fullerton Hage Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 401 Blunt, Charles City, Iowa 50616. 641-228-4211 www.Fullertonfh.com Facebook.com/Fullertonfuneralhome