Arlene Harders, age 93 of Hartley, IA, passed away at the Community Memorial Health Center in Hartley on Friday, March 7th, 2014. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, March 11th at 10:30 a.m. at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Hartley. Visitation will be Monday, March 10th from 2:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., with the family present from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., at the Hartley Funeral Home Chapel in Hartley. The Hartley Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements for 93 year-old Arlene Harders of Hartley, IA.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.sanborn-hartleyfuneralhomes.com
Arlene (Tewes) Harders, was the oldest daughter and fourth of fifteen children born to Ernest and Nellie (Baumeister) Tewes. She was born on a farm near Hartley, Iowa on October 20, 1920. She was educated in a country school, as well as taught to farm and to make a home.
On February 26, 1941, Arlene married John E. Harders. Together John and Arlene farmed through some very hard financial years in the history of our country, but it was a life they loved. Not only did she help outside with farmwork and chores, but she became an expert at baking bread and pies, crocheting, and gardening. She cared for—and fed—a family on not much more than what they grew in their garden, raised on their farm, or could buy with only the money that they got from trading their chickens’ eggs for the week. They had three children: LeAnn, Marjean, and Eddie, who they taught to work hard, be responsible and generous, help others, and love the land and the farm as much as they did.
Arlene was a member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Hartley, where she belonged to the Ladies Aid and helped with Vacation Bible school lunches every summer. In addition, she spent many hours quilting for missions with the Ladies Aid and volunteered with the Blood Mobile whenever it came to Hartley. She loved to play cards, bowl, and occasionally snuck off with friends for a trip to the river boat casino. Most important to her grandkids, she always had room and time for them, and their friends, in her home. Her house smelled of fresh bread baking, a pie coming out of the oven, or fresh baked cookies for someone who might stop by. And for as long as she lived in her home, she made lunch every day for any of her family members who might stop by. She was always generous with whatever she had and liked to share her baking and to give away the doilies she crocheted.
In 1977, Arlene moved off of the farm that she loved and into town, where she lived until 1998, when she moved to Morningside Estates. She enjoyed the community life there and kept her neighbors in pie until she entered the Community Memorial Health Center in Hartley in 2008, where she passed away on Friday, March 7, 2014.
She is survived by her three children: LeAnn Harms (Dennis), Marjean Westerman (Harvey), and Eddie (Joellen) Harders; eight grandchildren and their families: Brad Harms, Becky Davis, Julie Westerman, Jamie Billings, Rachel Wilson, Brenda Harders, Mary Harders, and Beth Harders. She is also survived by seven brothers and sisters: Lester Tewes, Orville Tewes, Marjorie Petersen, Roger Tewes, Arlo Tewes, Marlene Wills, and Eldon Tewes.
Preceding her in death is her husband, John Harders (1972); brothers Lawrence Tewes, Harlan Tewes, Marvin Tewes, and Delmar Tewes; and sisters Marilyn Tewes, Norma Jean Richter, and Mildred Hennings.
