Memorial Services and Celebration of Life will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 19, 207 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Remsen. Visitation will be 1 hour prior to the service on Saturday at the church. Service have been entrusted to Fisch Funeral Home & Monument in Remsen.
Shirley Berendes, 82, of Red Oak, Iowa and formally of Remsen died Sunday, March 12, 2017 at Montgomery County Memorial Hospital.
Shirley was born March 18, 1934 on a farm outside of Remsen, the daughter of Michael and Dorothy (Greten) Beelner. She was raised and educated in the Remsen area and graduated from St. Mary’s High School in 1952.
On August 27, 1952, she married Jack Berendes at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Remsen.
The couple made their home on a farm outside of Remsen until the death of her husband Jack in 1986. She remained in the Remsen area until 1998 when she then moved to Castel Rock, CO to live with her daughter, Dotty. After declining health in 2015 she moved to Red Oak Healthcare Community to be closer to her grandkids.
Shirley was a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church and church guild, and past member and President of the Catholic Daughters of American, St. Mary’s High School Typist, Board Secretary of the Happy Siesta Nursing Home, President of Remsen-Union Band Boosters for several years, along with various other committees and organizations. She always enjoyed helping others, cooking and baking for her family and friends, spending time with her grandkids, playing cards and bingo. She continued to play cards and was envied by her opponents for her knack of always winning.
Survivors include: her four children, Steve (Pat) Berendes, of Red Oak, IA; Rick (Sandi) Berendes of Remsen, IA; Dotty Berendes of Castel Rock, CO; John Berendes of Little Rock, AR; six grandchildren Brad (Jodi) Berendes, Omaha, NE; Jason (Shauna) Berendes Waynesville, MO; Jessica (Travis) Marx, Spirit Lake, IA; Melissa (Matt) Lenz of Moville, IA; Kayla (Markus) Frieske of Lake Mary, FL; Josh Berendes of Cedar Falls, IA; and 16 great –grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband Jack; her parents; her brother Richard Beelner and his wife Marian Beelner; her father and mother-in-law, Guido & Edith Berendes, Brother-in-law Donny Berendes; brother-in-law Harry Beck; brother-in-law Roman Staab and his wife Maxine.
This was always Shirley’s quote to all of her family:
“I love you higher than the highest mountain,
Lower than the lowest valley,
Deeper than the ocean,
and longer than all the blades of grass.”