Lilly White

Lillian Marie “Lilly” White died Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015, surrounded by her family.
Funeral services were held Monday, Jan. 19, at Lindstrom Funeral Home in Cresco.

Burial was in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Cresco.

Lindstrom Funeral Home, Cresco, assisted the family with arrangements.

Lilly was born in Schley, Iowa, on July 16, 1928, to Frank and Olena Opat.

She lived and farmed near Cresco most of her life.

Lilly told many stories of growing up “working like a man” alongside her “daddy” on the farm and assisting her mother in the home.  

At a young age, Lilly became a mother to Robert “Berta” Linderman, the first of her two sons. After that marriage came to a necessary end, she met and married her true life partner, Kenneth Allen White. Together they brought into the world their son, Roger Allen.

Throughout her adult life, Lillian tended the fields, drove crops to market, managed farm chores, milked cows, ran her home and reared her boys. She worked tirelessly alongside her husband, Kenneth, just as she had with her father.

Farming was certainly in Lillian’s blood. After she and Kenneth retired she realized she had much left to offer the farming world and sought employment within local operations, milking and caring for cows, though on a much larger scale! At one point, she proudly milked 300 cows, all while caring for three of her great-grandchildren, much as she had their mother and aunts when they were young.

Even though work took up so much of her life, Lilly always found time for church, family and friends. Civic-minded and with a patriotic spirit, she was involved in the VFW Auxiliary and served two terms as commander in the Cresco branch of the Auxiliary. Her husband, Kenneth, a WWII veteran, and son Roger, a Vietnam veteran, both served our country through the U.S. Army; their dedication was the catalyst pushing her service to veterans forward. 

Aside from being a hard worker, Lillian had an indomitable spirit and an undying, boundless zest for life. Her quick wit, sense of humor and infectious laughter could not be matched or squashed. Lillian was generous in spirit and humble of heart. She was undoubtedly a caregiver by nature.

With deep and abiding faith, she was a voracious reader of the Holy Bible.

Lilly and Kenneth moved in their later years to be closer to their son, Roger, and his family. She ended her days in the West Union area. In more recent years, the staff and residents of the Ossian Senior Hospice became family, tending to her with love and care as she entered the final leg of her life journey.

Lillian is survived by her husband, Kenneth; son Roger (Tammy), who is a former Hawkeye United Methodist Church pastor; six granddaughters, Brenda, Richelle, Nicolette, Renessa, Michelle, and Kelly Rae; grandsons-in-law Tom, Daryl, Ryan, Adan, and Adam; her great-grandchildren; her remaining siblings; numerous nieces and nephews; and many friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her son, Robert; and a few of her siblings.        3u3