Frances M. Heusinkveld

STORM LAKE - Frances M. Heusinkveld, age 83 of Storm Lake died Monday, February 22, 2010 at the Good Samaritan Center in Forest City.



Funeral service will be held at 1:30 PM on Friday, February 26th at the United Methodist Church in Storm Lake with Pastor Jerry E. Oakland officiating. Inurnment will be in the spring at Hope Cemetery in Hull, Iowa.



Visitation will be held at the church an hour prior to service.





Frances Mary Heusinkveld was born on August 12, 1926 on a farm near Hull, Iowa, the daughter of Dirk and Ella (DeBoer) Heusinkveld. She attended country school for eight years. At an early age she showed a love and aptitude for music and greatly enjoyed her summer piano lessons. Though circumstances prevented her from taking lessons during the winter, on many evenings she donned a coat to play the piano in the unheated front room.





In her junior year in Hull High School, she began studying piano with the renowned Maybelle Riemann of Hull. She went to her lessons with a feeling of awe at Miss Reimannís beautiful house, with its soft luxurious carpets and beautiful furnishings. Though she found these lessons extremely profitable and enjoyable, she had to discontinue them when she began college at Northwestern Junior College at Orange city, Iowa.





She transferred to Central College at Pella, Iowa in her junior year, began organ lessons, and resumed her study of the piano. She graduated from Central with a music major, specializing in piano. After teaching for three years at Castana, Iowa she completed her masterís degree in piano at the University of Iowa. She then taught at Denison, Iowa and at Upper Iowa University at Fayette, Iowa for two years at each place.





Her next position was at Buena Vista college at Storm Lake, Iowa as classroom teacher and college organist, a position which included numerous organ recitals. She also served as organist for many years at the United Methodist Church in Storm Lake. During this period she returned to the University of Iowa to get a PH.D. degree in organ literature. Later, on the basis of written and playing examinations, she also attained from the American Guild of Organists the Service Playing Certificate, Colleague Status and Associate Status.





After 33 years of teaching at Buena Vista she retired from classroom teaching but continued to teach organ students at the college and privately at home for several years.





She enjoyed travel and the study of foreign languages. Her travels through the years have taken her to many places including Mexico, various parts of Europe, Africa, China, and Taiwan.





In later years she took up the study of the cello and the viola which she enjoyed very much. After many years as a resident of Storm Lake, Frances moved to an assisted living facility in Pella, Iowa. Most recently she made her home at the Good Samaritan Care Center in Forest City where she passed away on February 22, 2010 at the age of 83 years.





Frances is survived by two brothers: Willis (Marj) Heusinkveld of Centerville, IA and Henry Heusinkveld of Kansas City, KS and many nieces and nephews.





She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers and a sisters.