Mercedes Beschorner

Mercedes Anna Beschorner, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed from this world into the eternal peace of our Lord on July 5, 2010. Mercedes was born November 3, 1915, in Wiota, Iowa, the youngest of three daughters of Thomas F. and Katharine Degan Connor, and lived most of her 94 years in Cass County.

Knowledge and education were central to her character, and she attended Iowa Teachers College in Cedar Falls (now University of Northern Iowa) to earn her teaching certificate, after having completed her own elementary and secondary education in the Wiota Community School by the age of 16. She taught elementary school in Attica, Iowa, and Churdan, Iowa, where she met her future husband. She married Erwin Anton Beschorner on June 23, 1941, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Wiota. They operated businesses in Churdan and Luther, Iowa, for ten years and then moved to a farm near Anita, Iowa, in 1952, where they raised their five children and where they lived for the rest of their lives.

Mercedes was well known to many in the Anita Community Schools, as she served for many years as teachers-aide and librarian at the elementary school. She was an active member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Anita.

Her hobbies included reading and making quilts for her family. She also loved music and visits with family and friends. She was a very active homemaker, including helping with the farm operation.


She was famous for her apple pies and other baked goods, for which people called ahead and reserved from the church bake sales. She always had her freezer stocked with goodies for all to enjoy.

She will be remembered as the loving and giving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother that she was. She was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas and Katharine Connor; her husband, Erwin; her son, Thomas Beschorner; daughter-in-law, Linda Beschorner; granddaughter, Tara Beschorner; sisters, Beatrice Mailander and Katharine Degan; brothers-in-law Harold Mailander, Tim Knoell, and George Hyland; sister-in-law, Magdalene Knoell; two nephews and a niece.

She is survived by her children, Leo (Roberta) Beschorner, Wiota, IA; Katherine (Paul) Malchiodi, San Diego, CA; Mary Beschorner, Fairfield, IA; Kevin (Peggy) Beschorner, Wiota, IA; sister-in-law, Agatha Hyland, Marshalltown, IA; grandchildren, Lisa Perkins, Brad Beschorner, Andrea Tatro, Julie Jacobs, Michael Malchiodi, Matthew Beschorner, Adam Beschorner, and Amy Beschorner. She had nine great-grandchildren and numerous and nieces and nephews.

Services will be held Thursday, July 8, 2010, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Anita, Iowa, with Father Dan Seipker officiating. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery in Anita, Iowa. A time for lunch and fellowship will be held in the Parish Center after the committal at St. Mary's Catholic Church.


A rosary will be held at 6:30 p.m., with the family greeting friends from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 7, 2010, at Hockenberry Family Care Funeral Home in Anita.

Hockenberry Family Care Funeral Home in Anita, Iowa, is in charge of the arrangements.