Wendy Rech Obituary
Wendy Rech passed away on September 28, 2025 at Kavanaugh House in Des Moines. She was 76 years old. A visitation will be held at Covenant Presbyterian Church (1025 28th St., West Des Moines) on Saturday, November 1, 2025 from 11:00 a.m. – 1 p.m. A funeral service will follow at 1 p.m. also at the church. The service will also be live streamed through the church’s YouTube page.
Wendy was born on September 2, 1949, in Des Moines, Iowa to Darrell & Norma Burch. She attended East High School in Des Moines. After graduating, she worked at Central Life Insurance Company in Des Moines where she met her future husband Stephen. They relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio for a short time while Stephen attended mortuary science school to become a funeral director. They then returned to Iowa where they stayed and raised a family and ultimately retired.
Throughout her life, she held important roles where she was employed including the Iowa Funeral Directors Association, Covenant Presbyterian Church, and the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office where she retired from in 2019. She was a dedicated, hard worker wherever she was.
She enjoyed video games and could often be found playing video games with her boys when they were growing up, or more recently on her phone. She was a devoted fan of Barry Manilow and The Carpenters, always enjoying one of their tunes. Wendy was also a strategic holiday decorator, always seeming to find some new knick-knack to display.
Family was very important to Wendy, and she tried to attend as many of her grandchildren’s events as possible. Always the caretaker, she would always check-in on family to see how they were doing and had a genuine interest in what her family was involved with.
Wendy is survived by her husband of 53 years, Stephen, and 3 children: Jon (Amy) Rech; Tim (Tami) Rech; Mark (Katie) Rech; 8 grandchildren; sister, Kim Welch and brother, Steve Burch, and numerous nieces and nephews. Wendy is preceded in death by her parents Darrell & Norma Burch, and sister Judy Johnson.
The Rech family would like to extend special thanks to the staff on 4 North at Unity Point Methodist and Kavanaugh House for their wonderful care of Wendy during her last days.
In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to Kavanaugh House, 900 56th St., Des Moines, IA 50312
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
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