Arlene Mae Linn

Arlene Mae Linn, age 87, of Grimes, Iowa, passed away on Monday, May 12, 2025, in Des Moines, Iowa, after a short illness.

Arlene was born to Otto and Opal Stoll on the family farm in Bondurant, Iowa on May 17, 1937, along with a twenty-minute older twin sister, Estelene Fae. The girls joined two older brothers. She enjoyed playing girls basketball for Bondurant-Farrar High School, graduating in 1955. She worked for an insurance company in nearby Des Moines, Iowa.

On January 28, 1956, she wed Eldon Linn. Later that year, they moved to Arlington, Virginia, where she began working for an insurance company in Washington, DC. After Eldon was discharged from the United States Army, they purchased a home in Falls Church City, living there from August of 1960 through May of 1990. In February of 1963, they adopted a four-month-old boy, Brian, and in 1965, a four-month-old girl, Brenda.

Arlene’s was a life filled with serving others, doing volunteer work at a nursing home, serving on the board of the Ballston Partnership in Arlington, and helping older church members.

She was always active in some part of church ministry, with music being her primary interest. For many years, she was a member of the church sanctuary choir at Cherrydale Baptist Church in Arlington, and then at Columbia Baptist Church, in Falls Church. With the Columbia Choir she travelled to Moscow, Russia, where they performed several concerts. At Cherrydale Baptist, she initiated and directed a Sunday School department for children ages two and three, serving for twenty-two years. Arlene claimed John 6:47 as her bible verse.

For leisure activities, Arlene enjoyed watching various sports with a focus on basketball, reading novels, especially Christian romance, and putting together jig-saw puzzles. Upon the death Eldon in December of 2022, she moved to Iowa and lived in the assisted living section of Kennybrook Village in Grimes Iowa. She continued her love of sports by joining the Kennybrook Kernals bean bag baseball team.

Arlene is survived by her son, Brian (Joy) Linn of St. Charles, Iowa, daughter, Brenda (Daniel) of Cody, Wyoming, nephew Dan Stoll, nephew Don Stoll, niece Christine Passick, grandsons, Randall, Steven, & Daniel Linn, as well as great-grandchildren Annabelle and Roman. She was preceded in death by her parents, older brothers Roy & Lee Stoll, sister Estelene Mathias, nieces Jacquline Griggs, Marcia Green, Rebecca Mathias, and nephews, Randall Mathias, Steven Mathias, and Carleton Stoll.

A visitation will be held Thursday, May 29, 2025 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and a funeral service will be held Friday, May 30, 2025 at 10:30 a.m., both at Maranatha Baptist Church, 877 SE 19th Street, Grimes, IA 50111. Interment will follow at the Bondurant Cemetery in Bondurant, IA. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed in Arlene's memory to: Maranatha Church Building Fund.

Ernst Funeral Home & Cremation Services of Waukee has been entrusted with Arlene's final arrangements.