Waneta Wanda Clague

Waneta Clague, 99, formerly of rural Milford, Iowa, passed Thursday, March 20, 2025, at Accura HealthCare of Milford. Funeral service for Waneta will be Thursday, March 27, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. at Langdon United Methodist Church, Langdon. Visitation will be held at 12:00 p.m. prior to the service. A time of fellowship will be held at Langdon United Methodist Church following the service. Interment will follow graveside service at the Milford Cemetery. Warner Funeral Home of Spencer is assisting the family with arrangements.

A lifelong resident of Dickinson County and rural Milford Township, Waneta Wanda Winslow was born October 21, 1925, on the family farm. Waneta was the fourth of six children born to Chester Ross, Sr., and Elsie Edith (Dodge) Winslow. Waneta was born in the same house that was also the birth home of her Mother. Waneta lived at the home farm place for eighty-six years. Waneta and her family were proud to have the farm recognized as an Iowa Century Farm, July 1987, homesteaded by her Great Grandfather Aaron and Sophia (Smith) Dodge, June 16, 1886, and the Title to the Land was given October 8, 1889. In September 2013, Waneta moved to Good Samaritan Heritage Landing at Milford, and in April 2020, to Keelson Harbour Senior Living at Spirit Lake. In January 2025, she moved to Accura HealthCare of Milford.

Waneta spent most of her life helping on the family farm. She started milking dairy cows at the age of eight and helped with milking for fifty-six years. Waneta attended Milford Township Country School #6, Terril High School, graduating in 1944 from Lake Township Consolidated High School, Lake Center. She attended Buena Vista College at Storm Lake, and taught in rural schools, Waterford Township School - Everly, in Clay County prior to marriage.

On July 27, 1947, Waneta married Delbert Lee Clague at the Langdon United Methodist Church. They met while Delbert, originally from Spencer, was a farm hand for Herman and Louise Struchen, and Wayne and Hazel Dodge families of rural Milford. Delbert and Waneta enjoyed sixty-six years of farming together. They were proud of their farm place, fields, and livestock. Waneta was very devoted to helping her husband with livestock and field work. She especially enjoyed driving her Oliver 770 tractor and operating the baler, baling alfalfa and oat straw. They were proud of their two children, Carolyn Lee and Allen Ross, raising them to do their best each day, receiving a college education, and their careers at South Dakota State University and Iowa State University, respectively. Delbert passed February 11, 2013, at the age of 87 years. Both children honor and will always remember their parents’ labor, love, and generosity.

Waneta liked to cook and bake, and is remembered for her fudge for family, neighbors, and friends. Her chocolate pudding was a family favorite. She enjoyed making apple, pumpkin, and rhubarb pies, apple bread, chocolate cake, brownies, cookies/bars, applesauce, and rhubarb sauce. She gathered and cooked asparagus for meals. She preserved fruits, especially peaches, and vegetables. She liked making tomato juice from her garden produce. She cared for and enjoyed her yard, asparagus, rhubarb, vegetable garden, perennials, flowers, apple trees, evergreen trees, and feeding and observing songbirds and pheasants. Waneta helped with milking dairy cows, tending to pigs and chickens, and gathering and preparing hen eggs to sell. Over the years, she trained the family’s dogs to herd dairy cows and pigs, jump fences, hunt, etc. Waneta journaled daily for thirty-five years about farm and home activities, and the weather throughout the day. She liked to observe and predict the weather for future days and seasons. Her family will remember her liking to work on the farm and in the house, always being active.

On September 23, 1961, she and her sister-in-law, Leona Winslow, chartered the Milford Peppy Peppers 4-H Club with eight members and were volunteer 4-H leaders for several years. She taught Sunday School and led the high school youth group at Langdon United Methodist Church, and taught Sunday School at Union Memorial Church, Milford. She assisted with the Dickinson County Board of Elections.

Waneta is survived by her two children and their spouses, Carolyn Clague and Dennis Hopfinger of Brookings, South Dakota, and Allen and Camille Clague of Gilbert, Iowa; two grandsons, Nathan Clague and Benjamin Clague, both of Gilbert, Iowa; one sibling, sister, Darlene Jane Brayfield of Golden City, Missouri, and sister-in-law, Benetta Lou Jeanne Winslow of Lamar, Missouri; seven nephews and eight nieces; and great nephews and great nieces. She will be remembered by other relatives, farm neighbors, and many friends of Dickinson and Clay Counties.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Chester Ross, Sr., and Elsie (Dodge) Winslow; husband, Delbert Clague; two sisters, Eva Mae Winslow and Laura Viola Van Bebber; two brothers, Chester Ross Winslow, Jr., and Ernest Winslow; brother-in-laws, Berle Clague, Henry Van Bebber, Cecil Brayfield, and Ervin Bernhagen; sister-in-law, Leona Winslow; niece, Marva Hazel Van Bebber; nephew, Kenneth Winslow; and great nephew, Allen Winslow.

Memorials may be given to Langdon United Methodist Church, 2975 252nd Avenue, Spencer, Iowa 51301-7578, Spencer Hospital at Spencer Regional Healthcare Foundation, 1200 First Avenue East, Spencer, Iowa 51301-4330, and/or Lakes Regional Healthcare Foundation, P.O. Box AB, 2301 Highway 71 South, Spirit Lake, Iowa 51360-1185.

Condolences to the family may be mailed to Warner Funeral Home, 225 West 3rd Street, Spencer, Iowa 51301-4166 or expressed at www.warnerfuneralhome.com