Lulu Irene Russell, 89, died Saturday, May 16, 2009, at St. Francis Hospital in Mountain View.
She was born Jan. 14, 1920, in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, daughter of David Whaley and Ora Adell White Whaley. She and Paul Riley were married in 1938. She married Claude Alfonso Aynes in the early 1940s. Following his death in October 1963, she and William Frank Russell were married Aug. 15, 1964. He died in November 1989.
She and her husband, Frank, moved from Morning Sun, Iowa, to Summersville in 1979. Following his death, she moved to the Summersville Senior Citizens Center, where she stayed until she was unable to live alone. She then moved to the Mountain View Health Care.
She loved playing Bingo and visiting with friends, especially talking about her family. Her favorite pastimes and hobbies were gardening, working with her flowers, Bingo and crocheting.
She was preceded in death by her parents and three husbands; four brothers, Ernest, Walter, Herman and David Whaley; and two sisters, Florence Swailes and Isabelle Purkapile.
Survivors include seven children, Raymond Aynes of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Phyllis Erbst of Calamus, Iowa, Shirley Dearth and Linda Aynes Villarreal-Kinnison of Morning Sun, Iowa, Claudette Thomason of Carthage, Ill., Adell Jeanie Enloe of Hartshorn and Paul Leroy Riley of Keokuk, Iowa; 22 grandchildren; 46 great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews and other family members.
Services were Wednesday, May 20, at First Baptist Church in Yarmouth, Iowa, with Pastor Paul Hooks officiating. Burial was in Elm Wood Cemetery in Morning Sun, Iowa, under the care of Bradford Funeral Home.
