Eloise Clara Christie was a caring wife, mother, grandmother and friend. She died at age 91 on June 28, 2023 at the Algona Good Samaritan Center. A funeral service is scheduled for 10:30 on July 7, 2023 at the Algona Evangelical Free Church. Services will be livestreamed on Lentz Funeral Home’s website https://www.hdezwebcast.com/show/eloise-christie. Burial will take place at Riverview Cemetery. Visitation will be held on Thursday, July 6, 2023 at 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM at Lentz Funeral Home in Algona.
She was born to Eugene A and Gladys (Drake) Hagglund on January 5, 1932 in Shenandoah, Iowa. It was in high school, at age fifteen that she met and began dating the love of her life, her “Chris”. After graduating from Shenandoah High School she attended Drake University and then returned to Shenandoah to work. Seventy-one years ago on June 21, 1952, she married R. Keith Christie at the Shenandoah First Presbyterian Church. She taught Dad to love music and he taught her to love sports.
Keith served in the US Air Force for four years after graduating from Omaha University in Nebraska, so they moved several times in the early years of their marriage. Each of their four daughters was born in a different state. After retirement, they enjoyed revisiting those places and traveling to different areas of the United States.
In 1960 they brought their family to Algona, Iowa where Eloise touched many lives through her church, her music, the Algona Community Schools and her care and concern for others including volunteering at the hospital as a member of the Kossuth Regional Medical Center Auxiliary. She loved attending the sporting events Keith coached and those in which her family participated. Her family remembers her “after the game critiques” when Coach came home: “Why did you send that guy to third base……….?”
She loved to entertain and all felt welcomed by her. Eloise loved babies and that has blossomed throughout the years. There are cherished memories of her reading to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We continue to laugh remembering her sense of humor and her uncontrollable laughter.
After her daughters were all in school Eloise worked part time, and later full time as secretary to the Curriculum Coordinator and Superintendent in the Algona Community School District for 27 years, retiring in 1994.
She sang solos and in church choir from age 14 until she felt her voice had left her, though she continued directing music in her church. She loved her garden and often shared her flowers with those she visited along with sweets from her kitchen. One of her gifts was sincere concern and care for people.
Eloise is survived by their four daughters and their families: Jamie and Cal Christensen of Emmetsburg, Iowa; Kim and Tim Fyfe of Clear Lake, Iowa; Lori Mineart of Des Moines, Iowa and Julie and Mel Elsberry of Orange City, Iowa. Fifteen grandchildren, 33 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren, and a nephew, Leif Hagglund of Bloomington, IN. She was preceded in death by her parents, her only sibling, Leland, and son-in-law, Tony Mineart.
In lieu of flowers, memorials will be given to the Kossuth County C.A.R.E Team and the Algona Food Pantry.
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