OBITUARY: Alda D. (Synsby) Mallery, 1927-2005, Mitchell County, Iowa 
 
Original version posted on www.mcpress.com - July 20, 2005
 



                            Alda D. Mallery

A Memorial service for Alda D. Mallery, 77, of Rudd, Iowa, was held
Wednesday, July 13, 2005, at the Rudd United Methodist Church with
Reverend Wendy Johannesen and Reverend William Polland officiating.

Inurnment was at the Evergreen Cemetery, Rudd.  Alda passed away on
Sunday, July 10, 2005, at the Mercy Medical Center, North Iowa, in Mason
City, Iowa, after an extended illness.

Alda was born August 25, 1927, to Lottie (Ask) and Thorvald Synsby, at home
in Rock Township, Mitchell County, Iowa. She attended grade school at
Rock Township School #3 in Mitchell County, and graduated from St. Ansgar
High School in 1944. After graduation, Alda worked at Johnson's Heating
and Plumbing in Osage for a short time. She then moved to Mason City and
worked for the telephone company.

Alda met her husband, Donovan Mallery, in 1949, at a dance in Rudd. They
were married on September 23, 1951, at the Little Brown Church in Nashua,
Iowa. At that time Don was serving in the US Army. After a brief honeymoon,
they moved to Kentucky, where he was stationed. After a few months, Don
was transferred overseas to serve in the Korean War, and Alda returned
home and lived with her parents until his return in 1953.

They lived on a farm just outside of Rudd for the next 50+ years, where
they did grain farming and raised livestock.  During those years, Alda
worked at Hoover's Hatchery in Rudd, at the Rudd Elementary/Junior High
as a cook, and then at the Nora Springs Care Center as an aide, cook, and
in housekeeping. She retired in 1989. They had four daughters, Jodee,
Lynette, Jill, and Dawn, between 1954 and 1962.

Alda was active in the Rudd United Methodist Church. She always put the
needs of others first. She volunteered on many local committees and helped
with many Rudd events.  Alda's many interests included making latch hook
rugs and quilts, vegetable and flower gardening and reading.

She is preceded in death by her parents; three brothers-in-law, Forrest
Muller, Les Shelley, and Orland "Bud" Cooley; one sister-in-law, Eunice
Shelley; and one son-in-law, George Dolphin.

She is survived by her husband. Donovan, of Rudd; their four daughters and
their children, Jodee Gentile, and her husband Art, and their children,
Ann and Amy, of Salida, Colo.; Lynette Harrington, and her husband Steve,
and their children, Ashley and April, of Mason City; Jill Dolphin, and her
children, Jeremy and his fianc/e Katie Lattimer, Jessica and Janessa, of
Olathe, Kan.; and Dawn Lynch, and her husband Stephen, and their daughter,
Amber, of New Canaan, Conn.; and three great-grandchildren. She is also
survived by a sister, Doris Colley, of Ridgeway, Iowa; two sisters-in-law,
Delores Muller, of Rockford; and Maxine Vance, and her husband Dale, of
Floyd; and many nieces and nephews. She was dearly loved by many, and
will be greatly missed.

Sheckler Colonial Chapel, 114 North Hawkeye, Nora Springs, Iowa, was in
charge of the arrangements.



                      Copyright 2005, K. L. Kittleson