Lola Hasselquist

Lola Irene Hasselquist, 104 of Malvern, IA, passed away Monday, September 30, 2024 at the Tabor Manor in Tabor, IA.
Memorial services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 3, 2024 at the Loess Hills Funeral Home in Malvern with Pastor Joni Hickey officiating. Burial will be in the Malvern Cemetery. Loess Hills Funeral Home in Malvern is caring for Lola and her family.
Memorials: In lieu of flowers, memorials are to the Malvern Public Library.
OBITUARY by family
Lola Irene Hasselquist, 104 of Malvern, IA, passed away on Monday, September 30, 2024 at the Tabor Manor Care Center in Tabor, IA.
Lola was born on December 16, 1919 on the family farm in Montgomery County, IA. She was the seventh of twelve children born to Elias and Anna (Retland) Johnson. Lola was baptized at the Strand Lutheran Church in Corning, IA. She graduated from Corning High School in 1937 and was awarded a certificate for Normal Training to teach school.
Lola and Alan Hasselquist were united in marriage on November 5, 1939 in Missouri, in a double wedding ceremony with Jerry and Pat (Murphy) Garst, remaining lifelong friends until their passing. Over the years, the two couples and their children celebrated their anniversaries at the 64 Club in Council Bluffs, IA.
Lola and Alan were blessed with two daughters, Karen Rae and Nancy Jeanne.
Lola was an active member of the Malvern United Methodist Church, the UMW, LTN, and enjoyed playing cards with neighbors when Alan was still alive. She continued to play bridge with several groups during her lifetime. Lola enjoyed China painting and painting with oils on canvas. Many of her beautiful paintings graced her living room walls.
Lola also enjoyed and had opportunities for international travel, beginning with England, the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal. Family friends took her to visit Norway, the country of her heritage. This trip was especially meaningful to her. She joined Karen and Jim on a trip to Tokyo, Japan and onto Hong Kong before a stopover in Honolulu on the return, where she frolicked on Waikiki Beach. Lola enjoyed a cruise to the Caribbean on Norwegian Cruise Lines with friends. When the locations she had visited were shown on TV, she enjoyed saying, "I remember being there".
One of her favorite pastimes was to go shopping for clothes and matching jewelry, in Omaha and Shenandoah, with her sisters, Orla Jean, LaDonna, and Vernita. They always stopped by the counter where perfume was sold and put on samples of 'foofoo".
Lola lost the love of her life when Alan passed away on November 2, 1971. She carried on living and managing the home and farmland until not long before her passing. Lola loved her home in the country, her family, friends, and especially her children and grandchildren.
In addition to her beloved husband Alan, she was preceded in death by her parents, Elias and Anna; her sisters, Gladys Johnson, Pearl Danielson, Elzine Jamison, and LaDonna Deitchler; and brothers, Earl Johnson, Orville Johnson, Kenneth Johnson, and twins, Wesley and Wayne Johnson.
Lola is survived by her daughters, Karen Gibson and husband Jim of Chapel Hill, NC, and Nancy Passerella and husband Rick of Arvada, CO; grandchildren, Debi (Bill) Wolf, Brad (Jackie) Gibson, Mark (Hillary) Gibson, Marsha (Dave) Rehfeld, and Brian (Nicole) Passerella; great grandchildren, John Wolf, Cara Wolf, Tyler Gibson, Grant Gibson, Jackson Gibson, Nathan Rehfeld, and Caitlin Rehfeld; two step great grandchildren, Eddie and Jaime Ellis; great-great grandson William Wolf; and sisters, Orla Jean Jackson of Green Bay, WI, and Vernita Kruse of Papillion, NE.