Odella Keck Erickson

Odella Keck Erickson, 90, of Waukon, IA, died Thursday, July 20, 2006 at Good Samaritan Center in Waukon. Funeral services will be held Monday, July 24th at 11:00 am at St. John's Lutheran Church in Waukon, with Rev. Lynn Groe officiating. Burial will be in Lutheran Cemetery, Decorah, IA. Friends may call from 4:00 to 7:00 pm Sunday at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon.

Odella Keck Erickson was born on May 22, 1916 on her family's Century Farm in Glenwood Township, rural Decorah, IA. Her parents were Otto and Nellie (Egge) Hattlestad. She was baptized and confirmed at First Lutheran Church in Decorah and attended the Freeport Rural School. Following her schooling, Odella stayed at home and helped on the farm. She worked with the animals as well as in the fields but was particularly interested in the bookkeeping and helping her father register his Chester White hogs. On November 3, 1936 she married Wesley William Keck at the Lutheran Parsonage in West Union, IA. They lived in Decorah where Odella was a busy mother of four, a homemaker and did the books for the Texaco service station they owned. In 1951 they moved to New Hampton where they bought a Massey Harris implement dealership. They also spent a year in Elma, IA before returning to Decorah in 1955 where Odella again did books for Wes and also worked in the bookstore at Luther College. In 1966 they moved to Waukon where in addition to keeping books for their business, West Side Garage, Odella worked in the office doing insurance filings for Veterans Memorial Hospital. She also found time to finish her GED. Wes died in 1976 and Odella continued to operate the garage until her retirement in the early 1980's. On October 24, 1982 she married Carsten Erlin Erickson at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, IA.

Odella had a life-long love of music. She chorded for her father when he fiddled and spent many of her favorite times at Matters Ballroom and other area dance halls, both as a young girl and with her husbands into her later years. She loved to play cards, was an excellent cook, enjoyed fishing and playing horseshoes. In her retirement years she enjoyed crocheting, quilting and traveling. A travel highlight was a Caribbean cruise she took with Carsey. Throughout her life, spending time with her family was important to Odella and she took special care to teach her grandchildren all sorts of things, from the finer points of cribbage to the special touch a favorite recipe required.

Survivors include 2 daughters, Jan (Dick) Helgeson of Decorah and Linda (Dennis) DeBuhr of Waukon; a son, Bill Keck of Davenport, IA; 13 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and a brother-in-law, Jack Weaver of Cedar Rapids. She is preceded in death by her parents; her husbands, Wes who died in 1976 and Carsten who died in 1989; a daughter, Marlene Ottesen; twin great-granddaughters; 2 sisters, Mabel Evenson and Luella Olson; and a brother, Nels Hattlestad.

Honorary casketbearers are her granddaughters, Cindy Crandall, Tammy Vrzak, Jackie Novotny, Traci Schmitz, Dana DeBuhr, and Lana and Jillian Keck. Casketbearers are her grandsons, Tim, Todd and Terry Helgeson, Cory and Jeff DeBuhr and Noah Keck.