Paula Marie Hartley

Paula M. Hartley, 91, of Wayland, formerly of Kalona, passed from this life on Saturday, November 8, 2025, at Parkview Home in Wayland. Her funeral service will be held Saturday, November 15, 2025, at 10:00 AM at the Peterseim Funeral Home in Kalona. The service will be available via Livestream at the Beatty Peterseim Facebook and YouTube pages. Burial at the Sharon Hill Cemetery will be held following the funeral. Visitation will be held Friday, November 14, from 4 – 6 PM at the Peterseim Funeral Home in Kalona. In lieu of flowers memorial donations can be directed to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. The Beatty Peterseim Funeral Home is assisting the family.

Paula Marie (Mast) Hartley was born August 19, 1934, in Rock Falls, Illinois, the daughter of Joseph and Thelma (King) Mast. She attended Kalona High School, where she participated in band, cheerleading, and chorus. On July 1, 1951, she was united in marriage to Robert Hartley at the Kalona Methodist Church. Paula worked at Stagner Drug, the Kalonial Townhouse, Ellen’s Sewing Center, and was a cook at the Kalona Elementary School. She started quilting as a teenager and continued to quilt until she was 90. She was a former member of the Kalona United Methodist Church, member and past president of the Rebekah Lodge of the IOOF, and the Culpepper’s Angels (the women’s auxiliary for the Confederate Air Force). Paula was an excellent homemaker, planting and canning from her huge garden, her specialty being pickled beets. She was also known for her bread and rhubarb pie. She also enjoyed hunting squirrels and rabbits and traveling. Paula and Bob traveled all over the United States, including Hawaii and Canada and Mexico. She and Bob both had their private pilot's licenses.

Survivors include her four children: Joette Armbruster of Riverside, Iowa, Michial (Debra) Hartley of Iowa City, Iowa, Anthony (Dee) Hartley of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Ryan (Deborah) Hartley of Phoenix, Arizona; 17 grandchildren; 35 great-grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren; and three sisters: Iva Beliel of Wayland, Iowa, Barbara Schumacher of Hubbard, Iowa, Myrna Jo (Jim) Mittler of Washington, Iowa.

Preceding Paula in death were her parents, her husband Bob, and son Douglas.