Obituary of Alda Mae Hightshoe

Alda Mae Hightshoe, 91, longtime resident of Iowa City, died Monday, January 5, 2015, at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 am Monday, January 12, 2015, at Zion Lutheran Church in Iowa City, where there will be a time of visitation one hour prior to the services and following the services during a luncheon at the church. Burial will be at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Iowa City. Alda Mae Zahner was born January 8, 1923, in rural Cook County, Illinois, the daughter of Peter and Cora (Beltz) Zahner. She later attended schools in Iowa City graduating from University High School in 1941. Later that year on November 26, 1941, she married Clarence C. Hightshoe. The couple had two children, Gary and Susan. Alda was able to be at home with them while they were growing up. She later was employed by Procter & Gamble for 25 years. Being known for planning life events, Alda wrote a brief obituary about herself. Religion was an integral part of her life. In her own words she wrote: When I was born, my father, Peter Zahner, was a Catholic so I was baptized Catholic. My father became ill and passed away when I was about six. We moved from the farm near Windom to Iowa City where I attended St. Mary's Catholic School. When I was about eight, my mother married an old friend of hers, and we moved to Frytown. There was a little church about a ½ block from our house, and we joined the Methodist Church. When I married Clarence, I became Lutheran. Surely I would enter Heaven with flying colors! Our children were raised Lutheran at Zion Lutheran Church. Alda enjoyed many things in life. She loved traveling the world and all of the United States with Clarence and the kids. Birding, photography and her gardening were passions of hers, and she found much joy in doing each. She was an artist, collecting treasures from their travels and her everyday living and creating something of beauty. She was a lady that fished and a lady that loved her card game, Euchre. However, beware, she was a bit competitive if you played against her. But if you knew Alda Mae, in the words of her son, you knew the most happy, positive, compassionate caring woman, one that puts others first, and one that everyone loved. Her family includes her husband: Clarence; their two children: Gary and his wife, Joan Hightshoe, and daughter, Susan Hightshoe; grandchildren: Kate Hightshoe, Jessica Rosenhamer (Brad), Tobin Hightshoe, Abigail Jackson (Jake), Quentin Stark (Kelly), Thomas Stark, and Christopher Stark; great-grandchildren: Ella Rosenhamer, Rowan and Lincoln Stark (twins), and Wesley Jackson. She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers, Paul Zahner and Russell Zahner; and sisters, Gladys Zahner, Marie Bettenhausen and Letha Amelon.