Rephea Steward

Funeral Services: Will be held on Tuessday, July 26, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. at the Avondale United Methodist Church, rural Fontanelle with burial in the Avondale Cemetery. Pastor Laurel Westerkamp will officiate the service.  

Open Visitation: Will be held on Monday, July 25th, at the Steen Funeral Home in Fontanelle from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Family Visitation: Will be held on Monday evening at the Steen Funeral Home in Fontanelle from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Memorials: To the Rephea Steward memorial fund to be established by the family. 

Rephea May (Bayman) Steward was born November 27, 1916 on a farm south of Bridgewater, Iowa to Oron and Lena (Scott) Bayman. She was the sixth child of a family of eight children. She passed away on July 21. 2016 at the Good Samaritan Care Center in Fontanelle, Iowa. 

Rephea attended country school at Washington #8 in Adair County. On January 10, 1934 she was united in marriage to Wilber LeRoy Steward. They were the parents of a daughter, Sherry. Wilber and Rephea farmed near Avondale for 47 years before moving to Maple Village in Greenfield in 1989. They enjoyed over 65 years together before Wilber’s passing in 1999. Rephea loved the farm and had many wonderful memories of their life there. She moved to Summerset Estates in Fontanelle in 2001 and December of 2011, she moved into the Good Samaritan Center in Fontanelle. 

She was a longtime member of Avondale Methodist Church, UMW, Order of the Eastern Star, and Sunshine Club. Her church community was a very important part of her life. One of her favorite Bible passages was Psalm 121. She also lived by a favorite Bible verse, “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” 

Rephea was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She had many friends and seemed to know everyone wherever she would go. Her greatest joy was spending time with her family and friends. Rephea was a care-giver in the truest sense of the word. She was always thinking of others and did her best to take care of everyone. She will be remembered for always having pie, cake, cookies or bars for anyone who came to visit. 

Rephea was preceded in death by her husband Wilber, daughter Sherry Zietlow her parents, five sisters: Hazel, Alma, Erma, Eleanor, and Dorothy, and two brothers: Lloyd and Lawrence. She is survived by Sherry’s husband Paul (Carolyn) Zietlow of Adel, granddaughters Kerri Hardy and husband Blake of Adel, granddaughter Jill Philby and husband Mike of Sully; Great-grandchildren Noah Hicks, Jacob and Rachel Hardy, and Samuel and Leah Philby, nieces, nephews and other relatives and friends. She was loved by all and will be greatly missed.