Rita M. Plendl

Rita M. Plendl, 95, of Kingsley, passed away Monday, February 27, 2017 at Kingsley Speciality Care in Kingsley, Iowa. Funeral services will be held 10:30 a.m., Saturday, March 4, 2017, at St. Michael Catholic Church, Kingsley, Iowa with Father Brad Pelzel officiating. Burial will be at St. Michael Catholic Cemetery, Kingsley, Iowa, with military rites conducted by American Legion Nash Post 140 of Kingsley. Visitation will be Friday, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m., with a rosary at 5:30 p.m., and a Scripture service at 7:00 p.m. all at Rohde Funeral Home in Kingsley, Iowa. Rita Marie Nilles was born December 24, 1921, in Remsen, Iowa, the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Gengler) Nilles. She grew up on a farm near Remsen and graduated from Remsen St. Mary's High School in 1939. After high school, she attended nurses training at St. Vincent School of Nursing in Sioux City, Iowa. Upon graduation, she worked in Detroit, Michigan for a short period of time as a maternal child nurse before being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. After completing basic training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin in 1944, she was sent to a 101st Medical Unit at Salisbury, England. In 1945 after V-E Day, Rita received an honorable discharge and returned home to Remsen to attend to her ailing father. She continued her nursing career at Sacred Heart Hospital in LeMars, Iowa. On June 25, 1947, she married Vincent Plendl at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Remsen, Iowa. She and Vincent lived on a farm eight miles west of Kingsley, Iowa where they raised their family. She was a stay at home wife for 17 years, and then worked as a Registered Nurse at Colonial Manor in Kingsley until retirement at the age of 70. Vincent passed away in 1995, and the following year Rita moved to a house in Kingsley. Five months ago, she relocated to Kingsley Specialty Care. She was a member of St. Michael Catholic Church, St. Michael Guild and the American Legion. Survivors include her three daughters, Bonnie (Gary) Pierce of Aurora, CO, Pat Flynn of Kingsley, IA and Judy Buckley of Hinton, IA, three sons, Gerry Plendl of Norfolk, NE, Les Plendl of Cedar Rapids, IA and Tom Plendl of Kingsley, IA. Also surviving are 18 grandchildren, 31 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren, and one sister-in-law, Madonna Shock of Bellevue, NE. Preceding Rita in death where her parents, husband, Vincent Plendl, 3 brothers, Walter, Floyd and Eddie Nilles, one sister, Dorothy Zimmer-Christianson, a daughter-in-law, Kay Plendl, and sons-in-law, Robert March and William Flynn.