Margaret Gravel May 18, 1933 – Sept. 26, 2020

      Margaret Gravel, age 87, died peacefully, Saturday evening, Sept. 26, 2020 at the Monticello Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility surrounded by her family.  

      Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m. Thursday morning, Oct. 1, 2020 at Wayne Zion Lutheran Church, rural Monticello with interment in the Wayne Zion Cemetery.   Pastor Wade Reddy will officiate at the services.   Visitation will be held from 4 until 7 p.m. Wednesday at Goettsch Funeral Home, Monticello. Masks must be worn and fitted properly over the nose and mouth at all times to enter the funeral home or the church.  Social distancing needs to be practiced as well.

      Surviving are five children, Robert (Lou Ann) Gravel, David (Stephanie) Gravel, Pamela (David) Leytem, Diane (Butch) Andrews, Val (Steve) Woodward her daughter-in-law, Paula Gravel, 18 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild and another on the way, her brother, Melvin (Janis) Dirks and two sisters, Lois (Henry) Poppe and Joyce Osterkamp.  She was preceded in death by her parents, an infant sister, Marilyn, her husband Tony in 1994 and a son Daniel in 2006 and a daughter-in-law, Paula.  

      Margaret Elfrieda Dirks was born May 18, 1933 at Langworthy, Iowa.   She was the daughter of Rhinehart and Elsie Antons Dirks.   Margaret graduated from Monticello Community schools with the class of 1951.    She married Anthony Gravel Nov. 17, 1952 at the Little Brown Church, Nashua, Iowa. The couple lived in Langworthy before moving to Center Junction, where they  operated Center Junction Rock and Lime. Margaret also worked at the Center Junction Locker, Big Bill’s and CPS where she was the secretary.  She retired in 2005.  Margaret was a life-long member of Wayne Zion Lutheran Church, where she was baptized, June 1, 1933 and confirmed her faith March 7, 1947.

      Margaret loved to work in her yard and tend to her flowers and watch the birds that gathered.