Thelma Fern (Hemingson) Alcock, 94, of Winslow House Care Center in Marion, Iowa died on Thursday afternoon, December 31, 2015 at Winslow House.
Thel was born on September 20, 1921 to Lewis and Alice (Kilson) Hemingson on the family farm near Allison, Iowa. Thel had 11 brothers and sisters and growing up lived in various locations in Butler and Bremer County. She was baptized and confirmed at the Warren Methodist Church. She graduated from Waverly High School in 1939. She then went to work as a typist in the office at Rath Packing Company in Waterloo for 2 years. Thel married Leland Ray Alcock on April 25th, 1943 at the Frederika Methodist Church in Frederika, Iowa. Thel and Leland farmed the Alcock family farm, southwest of Frederika in Bremer County until 1966. Thel was a homemaker and raised their four children, Bonnie, Al, Rick, and Dave, on the family farm until moving to Tripoli in 1973. In 1964 Thel began her work in the food service program for the Tripoli school system, continued that work at Wartburg College, and returned to the Tripoli food service department until she retired in 1989.
Thel and her husband were active members of the Frederika Methodist Church for 50 years. Thel was a people person and very much enjoyed working with others. Family was always very important to Thel as she hosted and cooked many meals over the years for family reunions and birthday celebrations. Christmas was a special time in the Alcock household and Thel always made Christmas special for her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Thel also had a sincere concern that her 11 brothers and sisters would have a family present during the holidays. Thel was quite a seamstress, making many of her children's clothes and made over one-hundred cabbage patch dolls. She had a passion for quilt making and gave each of her grandchildren a handmade quilt for their high school graduations.
Thel was a mainstay at her grandchildren's school athletic events, music concerts, and science fairs over the years. Thel and Leland made many long trips to support their grandchildren's events. Their grandchildren were very appreciative of their attendance. Thel was very eager to be at "Grandparents Day" when they occurred yearly. Thel had many hobbies: being a leader in 4-H, teaching Sunday school, being active in church, and helping with the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program where they mentored a young boy, Jesse, throughout many of his school years. Thel loved to decorate cakes and, quite often, decorated a birthday cake for her grandchildren on their birthday according to what the grandchild requested.
Other interests, besides quilting, that Thel enjoyed, included watching baseball and basketball, especially the Cubs and Hawkeyes. She also enjoyed reading, exercising, gardening, canning, crafts, and listening to music. After farming Thel and Leland did some traveling with Leland's FS business trips that he had earned. Their travels also included a trip to visit her sister in Hawaii and some trips to northern Minnesota to stay with family at a cabin on Webb Lake. She and Leland hosted two brothers who were foreign exchange students, Glin, and Paulo, from Brazil. They gained much insight into their Brazilian culture and formed a dear and long lasting relationship with them. Thel was always very proud of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren and loved them very much and hoped that they would be good citizens and lead good lives.
Thel is survived by 3 children, Bonnie (Ray) Joecken, Waverly, Al (Cathy) Alcock, Marion, Rick (Sue) Alcock, Granger; a daughter-in-law, Sherry Alcock, Decorah; 8 grandchildren, Chip (Janese) Joecken, Tom (Emily) Joecken, Amanda (Eric) Freese, Betsy (Josiah) Bushlack, Aaron Alcock, Matt Alcock, Emily Alcock, Rebecca Alcock and 10 great grandchildren, Mackenzie, Payton, Kendyl, TJ, Brooke, Evan, Owen, Syler, Eliah, and Jonah. She is also survived by one sister, VerJean Walther, one brother- in-law, Eugene, 5 sisters-in-law, Maxine, Harriet, Delores, Darlene, Gloria, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews .
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Leland Ray Alcock, one son, David Joe Alcock, one great grandson, Max David Bushlack, 7 brothers, Dean, Harold, Bernard, Warren, Wayne, Carroll, Donald, and 3 sisters, Lu Alta, Beulah, Melva.
Memorial services will be held on Saturday, January 9, 2016, at 11:00 a.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church in Waverly, with Pastor Eugene Walther officiating. Thel donated her body to the University of Iowa Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology for research. Memorials may be directed to Trout Run Bike Trail, Decorah, or Unity Point Hospice, Cedar Rapids.