Elizabeth Mondeel

Betty Mondeel, age 97, passed away on December 2, 2025 at Lake Mills Care Center. A funeral service will be at 11 AM on Saturday, December 13, 2025 at the former Hollandale Reformed Church. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service. Interment will be at 9:30 AM before the visitation at the Hollandale Cemetery.

Elizabeth was born on March 20, 1928, at Naeve Hospital in Albert Lea to John and Pearl Reynen. She attended grade school in Hollandale and in 1946 graduated from Albert Lea High School with the honor of achieving a salutatorian status. She then went on to get a nursing degree and worked for a time as a lab x-ray technician in Minneapolis.

She was united in marriage to Arent “Art” Mondeel on June 9, 1949. Together they operated a vegetable farm for many years in the Hollandale area, raising the row crops of potatoes, onions, cabbage, and soybeans. They had five sons in those years and retired in 1982.

In the early years of retirement, they did several church affiliated lay mission trips. They did service in Haiti, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Brewton, Alabama. In the coming years they became the so-called snowbirds and spent winters in different locations down south in their RV. Eventually they settled in the Clermont, Florida area and purchased a double wide mobile home in the Clerbrook RV Park. There they took up the hobbies of golf and shuffleboard. During the summer months, they ended up purchasing a lot in Sherwood Forest Park in Aiken County where they put up a new double wide park model home. There they spent much of their time fishing in the numerous area lakes. Betty also loved to knit, and she would knit slippers of all sizes to donate to charity and give to family and friends. There was always a demand for them.

At the age of 12, Betty started playing the piano and then the organ. She accompanied the song services at the Reformed Church in Hollandale for many years until she retired. She continued playing at the services in the Clerbrook Florida Park during the winter months. Then she would play in the Sherwood Forest Park. They, along with another couple, started a small church there and would have pastors from local churches come in to lead services. Betty pretty much played piano the rest of her life, even in nursing homes. At Lake Mills Care Center, the staff and other residents would ask her to play for them. She had a lot of music memorized and would spend a lot of time just playing for them.

Betty was preceded in death by her husband, Art; three children, Dan, Jerry and Jonathan Lee; parents; 4 sisters; 3 brothers and almost all their spouses; granddaughter, Jerri Mondeel; 2 of Arts brothers and sister; 1 brother in law; 1 sister in law.

Surviving family members are her two sons, Carl (Laura) Mondeel, Jon (Jody) Mondeel; grandchildren, James (Allyson) Mondeel, Brad (Kim) Mondeel, Jordan Mondeel, and Cory Vietor; Sisters in law, Judy Reynen and Audrey Mondeel; great-grandchildren, Daniel (Kassi) Mondeel, Kaitlynn (Jarrod) Indrelie, Faith, Sydney, McKenzie and Kailey Mondeel; great-great-grandchildren, Asher Indrelie and Evelynn Mondeel; many nieces and nephews.

Betty’s family would like to thank the Lake Mills Care Center for the wonderful care they provided her.

A funeral service will be at 11 AM on Saturday, December 13, 2025 at the former Hollandale Reformed Church. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service. Interment will be at 9:30 AM before the visitation at the Hollandale Cemetery. Memorials are preferred to the Hollandale Christian School.