White Funeral Home
1315 Main Street
Jesup, Iowa 50648

Jesup – Majel Kehoe, a long-time resident of Jesup, died on July 15, 2014, at the age of 95.  She resided at Ridgeway Place assisted living facility in Waterloo for the past two years, and spent her final weeks at New Aldaya Lifescapes in Cedar Falls.

On December 2, 1918, Majel and an identical twin sister, Maxine, were born to Martin and Hannah (Zacharias) Stromme in Broadview, Montana.  The twins had five older siblings.  After earning a teaching certificate at Eastern Montana Normal School in Billings in 1938, Majel taught elementary students in rural Montana for five years.  During World War II, she moved to Seattle and worked as a typist at the Port of Embarkation.  She met her future husband, Lawrence “Larry” Kehoe of Waterloo, at a dance at the Trianon Ballroom in Seattle while he was on a weekend leave from the Army.  After their marriage in 1946, the couple settled in rural Black Hawk County, Iowa, where they raised four children.

For more than 30 years, Majel taught elementary school and volunteered in the library at St. Athanasius School in Jesup.  She also served as a 4-H leader and in the Catholic Daughters of America, and remained an active member of the Jesup community until her move to Waterloo in 2012.  Through letters and personal visits, she stayed in contact with her many friends and relatives, near and far, until her death.

Majel was preceded in death by her parents, siblings, and husband.  She is survived by her four children, Patricia Kehoe (Thomas Hanson) of Des Moines, and Rosemary Peacher, Gene Kehoe, and Dennis (Dixie) Kehoe, all of Waterloo; and two grandchildren, York (Fumiyo) Peacher of Nagano, Japan, and Jacqueline Kehoe of Sunnyvale, California.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Athanasius Church in Jesup on Monday, July 21, 2014, at 10:30 a.m.  A luncheon immediately follows the funeral at the church dining room.  Interment will be at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Waterloo.  Visitation will be held at the White Funeral Home in Jesup from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m., on Sunday, July 20, 2014, with a Catholic Daughters of America Rosary at 3:00 p.m., and Vigil Service at 5:30 p.m.  Visitation will continue for an hour before services Monday at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be forwarded to the St. Athanasius Endowment Fund, 641 Stevens Street, Jesup, IA 50648, for assistance with student tuition in Majel’s name.