Darlene L. Van Roekel

     Darlene L. Van Roekel, age 81, of Sioux Center, Iowa died Monday, November 25, 2019 at Sioux Center Health in Sioux Center.

     A private family memorial service will be held at a later date.

Darlene L. Van Roekel of Sioux Center passed away Monday November 25, 2019 at the Sioux Center Community Hospital following a brief battle with cancer.

Darlene was born August 23, 1938 in Brookings, SD and was the second child of Herman and Mary (Sherman) Stallbaum. Her family lived in several towns throughout South Dakota and Minnesota until 1950, when they settled in Maurice, Iowa, where her father became the Superintendent of Schools.

She graduated from Maurice High School in 1956 and Northwestern College in 1958. On March 29, 1958, she married her high school sweetheart, Eugene Van Roekel, in the Maurice First Reformed Church, and they moved to Eugene’s home farm near Maurice. While Darlene had several jobs throughout her life, she was best known for her work as a CNA and Secretary at the Orange City Hospital, where she developed a reputation as someone with a caring and compassionate manner. She spent many hours knitting and crocheting gifts for her children and grandchildren. Later in life, she became interested in quilting and made quilts for all her children and grandchildren. She was an avid bird-watcher, collector, and loved any and all dogs. She also loved working with plants, particularly African Violets.

In 1990, Eugene and Darlene moved to Orange City, and in 2001, they retired to their second hometown of Harrison, Arkansas. While in Arkansas, Darlene became a regular at local blue grass jam sessions, where she played guitar, mandolin, and fiddle. While Darlene truly felt Arkansas had become her home, she returned to Iowa to be closer to her family shortly after Eugene’s death in November of 2016. Despite spending her adult years in Iowa and Arkansas, though, she was always a Western South Dakota girl at heart.

Darlene is survived by her children; Paulette (Giovanni) Romano, Steve (Melanie) Van Roekel, Shari (Gregg) Boone, Martin (Marianne) Van Roekel and Julie Krogman; seventeen grandchildren, Mary and Anna Maassen, Taylor and Garrett Van Roekel, Cameron, Kendall and Caden Grund, Tyler (Alisa,) Haley, Kiley and Myles (Sara) Boone, Magdalene, Jonah, Hannah and Eli Van Roekel, Brody (Phil) and Madeline Krogman; and two great-grandchildren, Rylan and Haden Boone. She is also survived by one sister, Marjorie (Dick) Reid; a brother-in-law, Pete Van Peursem; and seven neices and nephews.

In addition to her parents and her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents-in-law, Elmer and Gertrude Van Roekel; two sisters, Loraine Stallbaum and Phyllis Van Peursem; and a nephew, Michael Van Peursem.