Fern Alice Markwardt

Fern Alice Markwardt, 79, of Sheffield, died October 24, 2024 at the Mayo Clinic Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota. Fern’s family is hosting a memorial service in remembrance of Fern on Saturday, February 1, 2025, beginning at 11:00 a.m., at Woodley Funeral Home in Hampton, Iowa. Visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m., and lunch will be served following the memorial service. Fern’s cremains will be buried at the Pleasant Valley Township Cemetery near Swaledale, Iowa following lunch. Woodley Funeral Home and Crematory of Hampton is helping Fern’s family with the memorial service and the burial. Fern was born on May 25, 1945 to Howard William and Margaret Mary (Rother) Markwardt. Raised on her parents’ farm west of Sheffield, Fern enjoyed typical, farm-girl activities while growing up, including being a member of the township’s girls 4-H club (the Richland Robins), riding the family’s Shetland ponies (favorites were Dolly, Beauty, and Babe), and, after turning 16, driving herself and other neighborhood farm children to and from school activities in her red, AMC Rambler convertible. Fern graduated from Sheffield-Chapin High School in 1963. Following her high school graduation, Fern attended and graduated from Hamilton Business School in Mason City, Iowa. After her business school graduation, Fern began working at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Her career continued with A.C. Nielsen & Co. in Mason City, Iowa and then with the Internal Revenue Service in Des Moines, Iowa. While with the Internal Revenue Service, Fern became active in the National Treasury Employees Union, including many trips to Washington, D.C. to meet, together with other union members, with congressional members and their staffs. These meetings, in turn, sparked Fern’s interest in politics (and with a partiality for Democrats). Fern enjoyed volunteering in many election campaigns in both Iowa and Nebraska. Fern also enjoyed visiting extended family throughout the United States, researching with family cousins family genealogy, planning with family cousins annual family reunions that have been held for multiple generations, helping her brother Dean with fall harvesting, and, after returning to live for the past twenty years on the family farm where she was raised, working in the flower beds on the family farm. And Fern enjoyed traveling the byways of Iowa to discover and enjoy the state’s many offerings, including the gems of local restaurants and their specialties. Two shout-outs from Fern in recent years were the Stumble Inn in Bradford, Iowa and its Crispy Pig tenderloin sandwich and the BecMar Diner in Osage, Iowa and its liver and onions on the last Friday of each month (with Fern’s always adding to save room for a slice of the diner’s sour cream raisin pie). Fern was preceded in death by her parents and grandparents. Fern is survived by her two brothers, Dean of Sheffield, Iowa and Paul of Edina, Minnesota, her nieces, April Schoning of Thornton, Iowa and Samantha Markwardt of Sheffield, Iowa, her nephew, Matthew Markwardt of St. Louis, Missouri, and many other family members and friends who were dear to her. Fern’s family respectfully requests that, if you wish to make a donation in Fern’s memory, please donate to the charity of your choice. Fern’s charitable interests included food insecurity, childhood literacy, and conservation.

Tributes

Fern Alice Markwardt

May 25, 1945 - October 24, 2024