Marla K. Kremer

Marla Kay Kremer, age 70, passed away on Friday, October 31, 2025, at the Iowa River Hospice House in Marshalltown, Iowa, after a brief illness with her loving husband at her side.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Mitchell Family Funeral Home on Saturday, November 8, 2025: Visitation at 10:30, service at 11:30, and lunch provided following. Marla will be interred at Rose Hill Cemetery in Marshalltown, at a later time. We request that our friends and family come in casual dress. There will be a time of sharing memories at an open mic during the Celebration of Life.

In lieu of flowers, and honoring Marla’s tender heart for animals, memorials may be directed to the Animal Rescue League, Feral Cat Rescue, or any dog rescue.

For additional information or to send a condolence to the family, please visit www.mitchellfh.com or call 641-844-1234.

Marla Kay Dillon was born February 25, 1955, in Des Moines, Iowa. She was adopted days later by James and Beverly (Parsons) Dillon. Marla was soon promoted to “big sister” when Jana Elizabeth Dillon, was adopted as well after her birth on May 21, 1957. The family moved multiple times throughout the girls’ youth in the central Iowa area. After Beverly’s passing, two dear aunts, Frances Jean Martin and Donna Joan Williams, continued to keep the girls closely tied to the “Parsons cousin crew”. This included a grand fishing trip to Minnesota, which required two big cabins to hold grandparents, aunts, uncles, and all the cousins. Although many fish fries were held, Marla and Jana survived eating peanut butter instead for a WHOLE WEEK! When Katie & Nicole were children, the Jones family also traveled to Bemidji, MN, for fishing and memory making. Favorite memories from that trip were all piling into one van and making homemade onion rings.

Marla graduated from Marshalltown High School in 1973. She was employed as a salesclerk for JC Penney’s. Marla was employed in the housekeeping department at the Iowa Veterans’ Home, and she worked several part time jobs after high school. While living in LeGrand, Marla worked at the cashier’s desk for Meskwaki Casinos. She finally found her life’s calling as a self-employed domestic cleaning person. Marla didn’t just have clients. She added all those folks to her “friends who are family” list!

Marla met and married Robert Jones on November 8, 1975. They welcomed two daughters to their family, Nicole and Katie. Bob and Marla built a home in LeGrand, Iowa, including a backyard pool. The plan was for the girls to keep inviting their friends to come and swim safely, only Marla slipped on the wet pool deck and broke her arm! At First Friends Church, Marla served as a Sunday School teacher for many years and was involved in youth leadership as well. She welcomed many lady friends into her home for a “Social Club” gathering on a monthly basis. The official name of that organization has been lost; however, the memories live on! A loyal patron of the LeGrand library, Marla was known for bringing home not one book at a time, but a TOTE full of her next reading choices! Reading was a lifelong joy of hers wherever she was found, including a favorite location with her toes tucked into the warm sand of any Florida beach. Marla was always open for an adventure with friends and family. She did para-sailing, mined crystals in the rain and stuck in the clay, and usually came back braver than she ever dreamed she could have been. Watching sunsets over the ocean was soothing to Marla’s soul, especially with lifelong friends!

Marla Jones and Jerry Kremer first “met” while he was doing an investigation concerning the cashier’s department at Meskwaki Casino, but that meeting was “just business” for them both. Later, they connected when Jerry recognized Marla’s photo on a singles site as the person he wished he’d asked for her name and number earlier. Perkins for dinner the next night, and the rest is history! The year was about 2011. Things must have worked out well, because on June 9, 2018, Marla and Jerry each married a best friend for life. They were blessed to spend these last years together happily with their cats, Kiki and Lila Kremer.

Left to honor Marla’s memory are her husband, Jerry Kremer, her daughter, Katie Jones, her sister, Jana Dillon (Kevin Stangeland), her grandchildren, Marshal and Maybelle Smith and Jayden Jones, her stepchildren: Amy Kremer, Denise (Brian) Kremer-Blais, Beth Kremer (David Richson), and many step-grandchildren. Members of her Dillon family: Aunt Marge Cobb, Pat and Jim Niner, and several cousins. Members of the Parsons “cousin crew”; Marlene (Dennis) Reece, Reg (Melidy) Martin, Bruce (Barb) Martin, and Mike (Charlene) Martin and their families. Many nieces, nephews, extended family, and “friends who became family”.

-Lovingly written by her family.