Obituary of Eula B. Furnish

Eula Beck “Becky” Furnish died peacefully of heart and lung failure at Oaknoll Retirement Residence on January 7, 2005. A memorial service will be held at Oaknoll at 3:00 pm, Sunday, January 9, 2005. Memorial donations can be made in her memory to Iowa City Hospice 21025 Wade Street, Iowa City, Iowa. 52240. Online condiolences may be sent for Becky’s family through our website @www.gayandciha.com. Born near Kalona on October 3, 1915, to Verena Gnagey and DeWitt T. Beck, Becky went to school at University High School graduating in 1933 and then the University of Iowa graduating in 1937 with a B.A. in Sociology. She worked as a library assistant in the Geology Library, where she met Bill, her geologist husband of 66 years. They lived in Oklahoma, Texas, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia, creating their family along the way, then returned to Iowa City in 1953. Becky had a gift for nurturing others: she visited shut-ins, fed Bill’s geology graduate students with excellent meals (typically on short notice) and was a spirited presence not only in church (most recently at St. Andrew Presbyterian) but in many community activities including P.E.O. (Chapter JF), the University Club, and the League of Women Voters. She received a State of Iowa award for her volunteer work in Tipton. She loved gardening. After her five children were launched, she worked at a local flower shop for several years then, in 1973, she and Bill built a home above the Cedar River near Rochester and lived there until 1999, when they moved to Oaknoll. Her family includes her husband, William M. Furnish; five children, Dale Furnish of Tempe, AZ, Ann Ford and her husband, William of Iowa City, Jean Spitzer and her husband, John of Iowa City, James Furnish and his wife, Judy of Rockville, MD, and Joseph Furnish and his wife, Darlia Wright of Benicia, CA; sixteen grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Becky loved life, took it as it came but typically found ways to improve it with a special coffee cake or a pie-and with grace and love. Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service is caring for Becky’s family and her services.