Dorothy L. Radke, age 92, of Alta, passed away on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at the Methodist Manor Retirement Community of Storm Lake.  A funeral service will be held on Monday, October 31, 2016 at 10:30 AM at the St. John Lutheran Church of rural Alta (Hanover) with the Rev. John H. Schmidt officiating.  Burial will be at the St. John Lutheran Cemetery of rural Alta (Hanover).  A visitation will be held on Sunday, October 30, 2016 from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM at the Nicklas D. Jensen Funeral Home of Alta.  In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the St. John Lutheran Church of rural Alta (Hanover) or to the Methodist Manor Retirement Community of Storm Lake. 

    Dorothy Louise Johnson was born August 6, 1924.  She was the youngest of three daughters of Gustav and Svea Louise Johnson. She was baptized into her Christian Faith on October 5, 1924.  On April 10th, 1938 she was confirmed.  Both her baptism and confirmation were at Trinity Lutheran Church in Alta, Iowa. Her funeral is at St. John Lutheran Church of rural Alta (Hanover) where she was a member for over 60 years

    Even though her family was negatively affected by the Great Depression, she always talked about those years with fond memories.  She always had a smile for everyone and genuinely loved meeting the friends of her family members.

    Her amazing memory will be sorely missed.  She was able to keep all the generations and family trees organized in her mind.  She knew others’ family trees as well as her own.  In a different place and time she would have been an amazing genealogist.

    When Dorothy was 13 years old, she watched her mother catch fire in a cook-stove fire. Her mother died as a result and Dorothy started what was a lifetime of being the family caregiver.  She considered everyone her responsibility.  She raised and butchered, not only her own chickens, but butchered for others as well.  It’s been about ten years since she had chickens and we all miss her fresh, family farm, free-range chickens.  Normally not a trendsetter, she was organic before it was the “in” thing to do. Her sons remember going to town on Saturday nights to sell eggs to Lou and Buggs.

    Dorothy graduated from Alta High School in 1941 and attended American Institute of Business in Des Moines before returning to Alta to help her father.  Dorothy’s father Gustav lived with Marvin, Dorothy, and the boys until his death in 1969.

    Dorothy met the quiet, yet dashing Marvin Radke at her older sister’s wedding and soon the sisters were married to brothers.  Dorothy and Marvin were married September 25, 1949 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Alta, Iowa.  They were married 60 years before Marvin died in 2010.

    Dorothy and Marvin had three sons, Bruce, David, and Richard.  Richard still lives in the farmhouse his dad and dad’s siblings were born in and farms the 1907 Radke farm.

    Dorothy enjoyed the simple things in life ~ family, friends, putting a full meal on the table, playing cards, and reading.  The depression cemented what was already a strong work ethic and working hard brought her more pleasure than idle time.  At about 80 years after a fall, her sons firmly insisted on a regular washing machine and even a dryer on the ground floor and forbid her from hauling water and laundry to the basement.  Her wringer washer still worked just fine and she was not happy, especially when she found out that her wringer cleaned clothes better and the dryer didn’t leave clothes as fresh as her clothesline.  Her death represents the end of her generation on both the Johnson and Radke sides.  Those left to cherish her memory will never fully understand or appreciate how much the world changed in her lifetime or how satisfying a life of hard work, hand written letters, and domesticity could be.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Gustav and Louise; her sisters and their husbands, Ethel and Albert Mattson, and Ruth and Arthur Radke; as well as all Marvin’s siblings.

Dorothy is survived by her three sons, Bruce (Diane Hoferman) of Clinton, Iowa, David (Anne Alderton) of Onawa, Iowa, and Richard of Hanover, Iowa; grandchildren, Chris (Courtney) of Iowa City, Josh (Stephanie) of Iowa City, Meghann (Rob MacKinnon) of Minneapolis, Lanna Radke of Kansas City, and Erhren (Matt) Mitsdarffer, of Kansas City; great grandchildren, Owen, Hudson, Finley, Penelope, Jonas, Oliver, Miranda, Anthony, Natalie, Alyssa, and Sadie; and one sister-in-law, Marcella Radke of Storm Lake.

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