Eva Pelzer

Eva Lucille (Williamson) Pelzer, 96, passed peacefully from this earth surrounded by her family and her "Granddog Duncan" into the hands of God on June 14, 2013. She was born at home near Anita, Iowa, on June 16, 1916, the second daughter of Aura and Eva (Murray) Williamson. In 1918 the family moved to Leon, Iowa, where she graduated from high school. In June 1934 Lucille (the name she preferred) moved near her birthplace, to Atlantic, Iowa, where she went to work in Oscar Nord's Grocery. Shortly thereafter, she met the love of her life, Gerald Will Pelzer and on April 9, 1939, they eloped to Beatrice, Nebraska. In 1942 Gerald enlisted in the Seabees, and Lucille followed him to Virginia for his training, and then to Maine and California before he deployed to the World War II Pacific Theater. While Gerald served in the Pacific, she returned to Atlantic, going to work at J.C. Penney's. After Gerald's discharge in 1945, they moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where she worked in a dental office. Moving to Colorado in 1955, they purchased and operated a motel in Idaho Springs in the summers and lived in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver, in the winters until 1964. Then they moved to the Denver area full-time.

Lucille worked for more than thirty years in retail sales: At the Denver Dry Goods Department Store she served as an Assistant Buyer in Women's Lingerie for several years; she managed White's Uniform Shop for five years, Borg's Children's Shop for five years, and Women's World for seven years.

After her retirement in 1991, she and Gerald returned to their roots-to Atlantic, Iowa, where they were active members of the United Church of Christ. Lucille managed the Atlantic Senior Center and served on the board for more than twenty years. Following Gerald's death in 2009, Lucille moved to West Lafayette, Indiana to be near her daughter and son-in-law, Roselie and Thomas Bambrey.

Lucille enjoyed many things-her family, her church, her jobs and her hobbies. She was an accomplished cook and seamstress, making outfits for her daughter and granddaughters. She decorated beautiful wedding cakes for daughters of friends. Her family frequently gathered to share holiday meals and gift exchanges at her and Gerald's Colorado home. She will be missed by all who knew her and appreciated her many talents, her sense of humor, and her Midwestern wholesomeness.

Lucille was preceded in death by her husband of seventy years, her parents Aura and Eva Williamson, a sister Pauline, who died at age two before Lucille was born, brothers, Murray and Hal Williamson, and sisters-in-law, Ruth and Dorothy. Three children were born to their marriage and all survive: Roselie (Thomas) Bambrey, West Lafayette, Indiana; Robert (Karen) Pelzer, Thornton, Colorado; Jerry (Ute) Pelzer Vista, California. Grandchildren: Scott (Aleysondra) Pelzer, Carissa (Matthew) Sturgeon, Christina Pelzer, Tara (Andrew) Jecklyn, Jamie (Johnna) Bambrey and three great-grandchildren.

Funeral Services will be held on Friday, June 21, 2013, at 2:30 p.m., at the Hockenberry Family Care Funeral Home in Atlantic, IA. There is no scheduled visitation.
Burial will be in the Brighton Township Cemetery in Marne, Iowa.

Hockenberry Family Care in Atlantic, Iowa, is in charge of arrangements.