Eileen Maria Durst

Eileen Maria Durst, the daughter of Larry and Mary Margaret (McIntee) Lentz, was born June 12, 1936 in New Hampton, IA. Her family moved to Cherokee in 1941, where she received her education, graduating from Immaculate Conception Catholic School in 1954. Following her schooling she began working for the mental health facility in Cherokee. She met Donnie Durst at the skating rink in Cherokee and they were married on October 12, 1957 and moved to the Langdon/Spencer, Iowa area. They raised two sons: Terry, born in 1959 and Michael in 1961. Throughout the years, she worked at the Clay County Bank, Farmer's Trust and Savings Bank, N.W. Mutual Life Insurance, was a legal secretary for Ron Barrick, Berg & Barrick and John Greer, Nelson & Bertell and was executive secretary for Ron Dillon at PCP Manufacturing, where she was president of the leasing company. Eileen was also president of the Iowa Legal Secretaries Association. She was a published poet and a devout Catholic, who was an active member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Milford. Eileen claimed for years that she did all the farming as well, operating the combine, plowing and she especially enjoyed cultivating crops when they were small. Animals were a great joy to her and she made pets of fat steers, brought home countless stray cats, loved Samoyed puppies and even rescued an unwanted goat. She passed away at the Select Specialty Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD on Monday, June 20, 2011 at the age of 75. She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Donald on May 22, 2011. Left to cherish her memory are two sons: Terry of Cherokee and Michael of Estherville, IA; 3 grandchildren; 5 great-grandchildren; a sister, Margaret Carlson of Cherokee, IA; many nieces and nephews; other relatives and friends.

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