Obituary of Patty Lou Fetters

Long time Iowa City resident, Patty Lou Fetters, left her container behind on December 9, 2019.  She was under the loving care of the staff at the Iowa City Rehabilitation and Health Care Center when she passed.  We will get together at a later date to celebrate her life and lay her ashes to rest at Memory Gardens. 

Patty was born in Downey, Iowa, to Marvin and Edna (Sorenson) Yerington.  She married Robert Roy Rogness in 1957.  They had 4 children, Robert, Kelli, Mary, and Forrest.  After Robert Roy passed away, Patty married Albert Raymond Fetters in 1965.  They had one son, Toby.

Patty spent her life serving food at George's Gourmet, Country Kitchen, and Hy-Vee.  She loved to design her own t-shirts and write poetry.  She could be found most mornings with her bag of paper and pencils having coffee and a Danish and writing poems at either Panera Bread or the Hy-Vee Deli in Iowa City.  She was very proud of her first book of poems, Thoughts, Feelings, and Opinions, which was finished with the help of Peter and Linnea in 1980 and published in the University of Iowa Library.  She continued to gather her thoughts, feelings, and opinions on whatever scraps of paper she could find, and with the help of her friend, Doug, who she met at Panera Bread, all of her little scraps of paper were magically transformed into a second collection of poems which she called, A Lot of Poems and One Lesson.  She loved to share her poetry and always carried copies of her books to hand out to those she met along the way.  

Patty loved to travel and made the rounds to see her family in Nebraska, Texas, Idaho, and California as often as she could.  She adored every 4-legged creature she ever met and really enjoyed spending time in Nebraska helping her daughter, Mary, with her animal rescue and rehabilitation efforts.

Patty is survived by one brother, Michael Yerington of Cedar Rapids, her sister-in-law, Sue Yerington of California, her children, Robert Rogness of California, Kelli Rogness-McBride of Idaho, Forrest (Diane) Rogness of Texas, and Toby (Cindy) Fetters of Iowa City, her grandchildren, Drew Schnoebelen, Mercedes McBride, and Anna Rogness, her great grandson, Jude Groves, and several nieces and nephews.    

She was preceded in death by her parents, Marvin and Edna Yerington, her spouses, Robert Roy Rogness and Albert Raymond Fetters, her siblings, Erma Wolf, Talbert Yerington, and Roderick Yerington, and her daughter, Mary Stickney. 

Her family would like to thank all of the wonderful staff and residents at Iowa City Rehabilitation and Health Care Center for taking such good care of her and making her feel at home there.  We would also like to thank the caring nurses from Hospice Compassus for their kindness and reassurance as Patty's soul flew off in search of new adventures to write about. 

In memory of Patty Lou, be kind, tolerant, considerate, encouraging, gentle, reassuring, and helpful to one another.  It is up to each and every one of us to make our world a better place.

Please visit the funeral home website @ www.gayandciha.com to share your thoughts and memories.

https://compassuslivingfoundation.org/