Vera M. Klindt

Vera M. Klindt, age 99, of Sioux Rapids, Iowa died March 21, 2026 at Methodist Manor Retirement Community in Storm Lake. 

Private graveside services will take place. The Sliefert Funeral Home of Sioux Rapids is in charge of the arrangements. 

Vera May Johnson Klindt was born May 1, 1926. Vera died on March 21, 2026, after first suffering a fall and breaking her arm and collar bone which required her to enter Methodist Manor at Storm Lake. We had hoped she would be able to come home again but then she suffered two heart attacks. Vera was greeted at Heaven’s Gate by her loving husband Harold, her parents, and four of her siblings. She was the third child of Clayton Lloyd Myrus and Garnet Mildred (Stewart) Johnson. Vera was born on a farm by Blue Earth, Minnesota, lived in Winnebago where her father worked at a dairy, and moved to the Marathon/Sioux Rapids area in 1934. Vera was given the choice of working in the house or milking cows before school. She chose the cows. Vera attended Marathon Community School and graduated in 1944.

After high school graduation, Vera worked in Sioux Rapids at Simonson Iron Works for a year and a half with her two older sisters, Ina and Nylene. While all this was going on, Vera was getting to know the new neighbors to the west. She and Harold Klindt married on February 24, 1946, at her parents’ farm. She had to move a whole quarter mile to the west where she began married life with her husband, his younger brother Robert, and her mother-in-law Christine (Tena) Klindt. Living with her mother-in-law wasn’t so bad. She always said that Tena taught her how to cook since she didn’t learn many cooking skills being out in the barn with the cows.

Harold and Vera were partners in farming. Dad’s nickname for her was Henry the Hired Hand. They lived on the home place for 57 years and moved into Sioux Rapids in 2002. They enjoyed sixteen winters in Texas and eleven summers at their lake home at Lost Island.

Harold and Vera were blessed with four daughters: Paula Nylene (Jim Greenwell) Klindt of Sioux Rapids, Peggy Jo (Les) Milton of Laurens, Pamela Sue (Tom) Jacobson of Sioux Rapids, and Patricia Kay (Bill) Fitzpatrick of Storm Lake. The four PKs. We will always be known as the Klindt Girls.

Vera was preceded in death by her husband Harold in 2006; her parents, Clayton and Garnet Johnson; her sister and brother-in-law, Ina and Howard Sheets; her sister and brother-in-law, Nylene and Gordon Jones; her sister and brother-in-law, Delores and Bob Sierck; her brother, Ronnie Johnson (Sandy Tucker); and her sister-in-law, Shirley Jane Johnson; her brothers and sisters in law Don and Frances Stanzel and Robert and Martha Klindt;.

Vera is survived by her daughters; her beloved brother Eugene Johnson of Marathon; eight grandchildren--Julie Malfeld, Adam Fitzpatrick, Michael Jacobson, Erin Milton Hicks, Matthew Jacobson, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Cassidy Fitzpatrick, and Kimberly Milton Robinson; fifteen great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews; and special friend Martha Phipps of Spirit Lake.

Vera and Harold were partners for life. Vera’s life was the typical farm life. Hard. She always had a big garden and canned and froze many vegetables. We still can barely eat green beans. Dressing chickens was a three-day event. Harold’s job was to kill and singe the chickens. Vera’s job was to cut them up. She tried to get the kids to help but we drew the line at putting our hands into the chicken to pull out the innards. We froze corn for days. And after a day of freezing corn, we probably had corn for supper.

Mom took care of the chickens. As we got older, we would gather eggs and water the chickens but she always took care of the feed. We can remember her carrying two five-gallon pails of feed to the chicken house. We believe we developed our work ethic from growing up on a farm and especially with no brothers. There was no men’s work and women’s work. There was just work. Mom had some tricks. If Dad was coming to the house around suppertime, Mom would yell at us to set the table. He would come into the house, see the table was set, and feel assured that supper must not be far away.

When we began participating in sports, Mom was all in. Dad would come to the home games, but Mom attended every game. She probably didn’t miss a game for over 15 years. The weather was really bad one night but we were still going to participate in an away basketball game. The coaches asked Mom if she would like to ride the bus because they knew she would be going anyway. She did. Nothing like having your mom on the bus to put a damper on normally exuberant behavior.

There was a special place in mom’s heart for her grandkids. And then the great grandkids. Something magical happens when a parent becomes a grandparent. That certainly happened with Mom. She absolutely treasured her grandchildren. And they returned that love. There is nothing like holding your baby’s baby. And your baby’s baby’s baby.

Mom occasionally remarked that she couldn’t believe she had lived this long. She said several times that her friends were gone. She also (as we all do) wondered where the time had gone. She saw so much in her life. When Mom was young, her father farmed with horses, they had an outhouse, no electricity, cooked for a family of eight on a wood stove, etc., etc. She marveled at the technology we use. She didn’t want to use it but she was impressed with those who did. Mom also had much loss. She lost her parents, her husband, her cherished sisters and brother, and multitudes of friends. We were so privileged that we had Mom for so many years.

Thank you to the Methodist Manor and St. Croix Hospice staff for their professionalism and loving care in the approximately three and a half months that Mom was at the Manor and then under hospice care. A special thanks to her loving friend, Nora Boettcher. Nora made Mom’s days much brighter. Also thank you to the Sioux Rapids ambulance crew who took Mom to the BVRMC a time or two (or three). We have been blessed by having Vera May Klindt for our mother. She will be forever remembered.

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