Esther Mouw

Esther Mouw, 92, of Sioux Center, IA died Thursday, May 8, 2014, at Prairie View Home in Sanborn, Iowa. A visitation will be held on Sunday from 2-8PM, with the family present from 2-4PM at the Memorial Funeral Home of Sioux Center. A funeral service will be held on Monday at 10:30AM at the Peace Lutheran Church of rural Sioux Center with Rev. Glen Peterson officiating. Interment will follow the service in Peace Lutheran Cemetery. The Mouw family prefers memorials to Gentiva Hospice (formerly Iowa Hospice) or Peace Lutheran Church. Esther Margaret Dierks was born to Fred and Alvina Dierks on June 25, 1921 on the rural Sioux Center farm where she later lived. She attended Plato #9 rural school and graduated from Sioux Center High School in 1938. She attended Westmar College and received her teaching certificate. She taught for 3 years in the same rural school she attended. She was baptized and confirmed in Peace Lutheran Church where she was a lifetime member. She was active as an organist, pianist, Sunday school teacher and a part of the Women's Ministries. Esther married Marvin Mouw on August 25, 1945. The couple farmed until their retirement in 1983. They moved to Sioux Center in 1991. She enjoyed traveling, reading and spending time outdoors in her garden. She moved to the Regency Retirement facility in 2005 and later to Royal Meadows in Sioux Center. She was transferred to Prairie View in Sanborn in 2013. She is survived by two sons: Robert and his wife, Janet of Woodbridge, VA and James and his wife, Leanne of Sioux Center, a daughter, Mary Ellenberger and her husband, Tom of Villa Ridge, MO; 6 grandchildren: Adam and Alex Mouw, Ryan and Jessie Mouw, and Amanda Mouw, all of Virginia, Kent and Brooke Mouw of Boston, MA, Andrea Mouw of Minneapolis, MN and Dan and Tessa Mouw of Sioux Center; 7 great grandchildren; and a sister, Evelyn Vander Velde and her husband, Richard of Rock Valley. She was preceded in death by her husband, Marvin; a son, Ronald; and two great grandchildren: Riley Mouw and Elise Mouw.