Iris J Delaney

Iris June Delaney, age 87, passed away February 9, 2012 at Garden View Nursing Home. She was born and raised on a farm in Grant, Iowa on October 24, 1924 to Frank and Lillie (Johnson) Hensel. Her father was a farmer and her mother worked as a nurses aide. She has five brothers and two sisters. She is survived by a sister Ruth Olson of Fargo, North Dakota and a brother Ray Hensel of Shoemakerville, Pennsylvania. Iris attended school in Grant, Iowa. In her teens and early 20's she worked at Karle's Bakery in Villisca. Iris married Woodrow Delaney on December 16, 1946 and moved to Villisca, he worked as a farmer until the late 1950's, then he was employed by the Municipal Power Plant in Villisca. They had three children and son who died as an infant, two daughters, Christina Gray and Stella Baker both of Shenandoah. After the girls were in school, Iris worked as a nurses aide at Cozad and Gulick Nursing Homes in Villisca. In 1971 her husband Woodrow died of a heart attack at the age of 52. Iris had to get a birth certificate and when she went to get it the name on the certificate was Girl Hensel, she was never given a name at that time being born at home, so her mother Lillie...[more]

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nsel and sister Mable Weaver, had to go and prove who she was, she could of changed her name, but kept what she had, it is funny now, but was quite an ordeal, today it would have been impossible. After the death of her husband, Iris delivered the Omaha World Herald all over the town of Villisca, she had quite a route, until the age of 78. Iris has four grandchildren, three boys and one girl. She also has five great-grandchildren, four girls and one boy, and one step-great-grandson. Iris oldest great-granddaughter took Iris's married name Delaney. Iris enjoyed doing Word Search, crocheting layettes and blankets for new born babies and making afghans for people, kept her real busy. She also enjoyed bowling and was on leagues until the early 1990's when she fell and broke her hip. She later moved to Shenandoah when she came to Garden View in October of 2008. May God grant comfort and strength to those who mourn her loss.