July 2019

Wed
03
Jul

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith

 

Bessie E. Smith, 90, of Oelwein, Iowa died on Monday evening, June 24, 2019 at the Good Samaritan Society in West Union.

Funeral Service were held at  11:00 a.m. Saturday, June 29, 2019 at Floral Hills Funeral Home, rural Oelwein, Iowa with Jim Lawless leading the service.

Visitation was held one hour before the service on Saturday at the funeral home.

Interment was in Floral Hills Memorial Gardens, rural Oelwein, Iowa.

Memorial Fund were listed as the  March of Dimes and the American Cancer Society.

Online obituary at www.jamisonschmitzfuneralhome.com

Wed
03
Jul

Family still waiting on 'Justice for Kaiden'

It’s been a year since Kaiden Estling was killed in a hit-and-run accident on Highway 150 just south of Fayette. It’s said that time heals all wounds, but for Kaiden’s mother, April Estling, that healing process can’t begin until the person responsible has been caught.  Chris DeBack photo

 

Family still waiting on 'Justice for Kaiden'

 

By Chris Deback
cdeback@thefayettecountyunion.com

 

 

It’s said that time heals all wounds

April Estling doesn't know if those words will ever ring true for her after her son, 14-year-old Kaiden Estling, was killed in a hit-and-run accident a year ago. 

“It is like a piece of me is missing,” she said as she fought back tears. “Every time I picture his face, I can literally feel my heart shatter. It never gets easier. Now that Friday was a year since it happened, it feels like it is happening all over again. No matter what his brother and I do, our family isn’t complete. We are missing someone.”

On Thursday, June 28, 2018, Kaiden, who lived in Maynard, had gone to Fayette on his moped to visit a friend, and his mother told him to be home before dark. After hanging out with his friend, Estling went to leave town but noticed that some of his other friends were getting out of class at Warrior Servant Martial Arts in Fayette, where he took martial arts, so he stopped to talk to them. 

After losing track of time, Kaiden left Fayette to head for home on his blue 2016 Yongfu moped, but he would never make it. 

“About 10 p.m. I realized he wasn’t home, and I started feeling sick to my stomach, it was really weird,” Kaiden’s mother recalled. “I yelled out to his little brother, Amir, who was in the living room, ‘Did Kaiden come home?’ and he said ‘No.’”

At approximately 10:08 p.m. the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call for a moped accident on Highway 150 near 118th Street approximately two miles south of Fayette. Kaiden was in the southbound lane of Highway 150, when his moped was struck by another vehicle causing him to lose control and end up near the west ditch. The driver fled the scene and someone else found Kaiden and called 911. 

“When I realized he wasn’t home I started calling him, and he didn’t answer,” April said as she began to sob. “That wasn’t like him, even if he missed the call he would call me back within a couple minutes. At 10:30 p.m. he wasn’t answering me, he wasn’t calling me back so I got in the car and I knew he had gone to Fayette, so I headed that direction.”

Wed
03
Jul

Arlington picks its hero, Lucas Baker, as grand marshal

The Arlington Community Club has chosen Lucas Baker as its grand marshal for the Arlington Days’ Parade at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 6. Baker, who is pictured with his dog Sparky, was chosen for his courageous fight with Acute T-Call Lymphoblastic Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  submitted photo

 

 

 

Arlington picks its hero, Lucas Baker, as grand marshal

 

By Jack Swanson
Contributing Writer

 

 

Superman, Batman, Lone Ranger, Michael Jordan, John Wayne, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Phelps, 9/11 firemen and rescuers, service men and women, and teachers are all things that come to mind when someone thinks of a hero.

But when the members of the Arlington Community Club decided to pick a hero to lead their Arlington Days’ parade themed “Thank A Hero,” their thoughts turned to a 10-year-old boy who has been fighting one of life’s deadliest enemies for the last 10 months.

The 2019 Arlington Days’ Grand Marshal is Lucas Baker.  

It started with a cough on Sept. 8, 2018. The cough was causing him to be short of breath and, at times, Lucas could barely breathe. His parents, Nick and Bridget Baker, seeing their son struggling to breathe rushed him to the emergency room. Lucas’ fight with one of the worst evil villains known to man had just begun.

An x-ray showed a mass in Lucas’ chest. After two weeks in the University of Iowa’s Children Hospital having labs, imaging, and lots of procedures and tests, he was diagnosed with Acute T-Cell Lympoblastic Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

The plan was to “shrink and dissolve” the mass and let his body flush it out.

Since then Lucas’ has spent his time making trips to Iowa City for chemotherapy and meds. He had his blood drawn weekly to see if he can face the chemo treatments, if not, he has to wait another week, putting him further behind in his fight. Every time he has a fever, it’s back to the hospital. In order to go outside he has to wear a surgical mask.

Because of his illness he could not be with his fourth grade friends in the classroom.

Lucas hopefully will finish his last intensive phase of this battle this summer.  Then he will start his maintenance phase, which will allow him to start fifth grade at Starmont School in the fall.  

Wed
03
Jul

Clara Trapp

Clara Trapp

 

Clara Trapp, 92, died June 20, 2019 at The Stratford in Carmel, Indiana. A memorial service will be held July 27, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. St. Peter Lutheran Church, 28884 State Street, Eldorado/West Union, Iowa (563-422-5445) with lunch following at the church.  Graveside service will take place at 3:00 p.m. at Fairview Cemetery, 1350 West 12th Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa (319-268-7222). Following internment, an open-house gathering will take place from 4:00-5:30 p.m. at Montage restaurant, 222 Main Street, Cedar Falls (319-268-7222). Joan and Lynne invite all friends and family to attend.

  Memorials may be made to the Ken and Clara Trapp Memorial Scholarship, UNI Foundation, 121 Commons, Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0239 (please include a note referencing scholarship name), or to a cause of the giver’s choice. 

Wed
03
Jul

Rita Manderfield

Rita Manderfield

 

Rita R. Manderfield, 94, of West Union and formerly of Fayette, died Wednesday, June 26, 2019, at the Good Samaritan Society in West Union. 

Wed
03
Jul

Swimmers sink Sumner

 

Jodi Wettleson’s backstroke allows her to glide gracefully across the pool in recent action for the West Union Swim Team. (Jerry Wadian photo)

Swimmers sink Sumner

By Jerry Wadian
jwadian@thefayettecountyunion.com

The West Union Swim Team beat Sumner last week, but lightning Thursday in Calmar, stopped the meet early.

The win Tuesday, June 25, at Sumner saw West Union score well in the medal department.

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