Beulah E. (Wise) Iserman, 95, former resident of Rock City, Illinois, passed away peacefully with family by her side on Monday, April 24, 2017, at the Solon Retirement Village in Solon, Iowa. She was born July 25, 1921 in rural Dakota; the daughter of Ford and Edith (Barr) Wise. Beulah graduated from Dakota High School and Northern Illinois University. She taught at Brown and Center Hill Schools from 1941-1944, and substituted at other area schools for several years. She renewed her teacher's certificate in the 1970's and worked as an Instructional Aide in Special Education at Dakota Primary School for 11 years. On October 14, 1943, she married Merle W. Iserman at the Dakota Community church, and her uncle, Rev. Floyd Barr, came by train from Salt Lake City, Utah to officiate the wedding.
She and Merle farmed and later purchased the farm at Rock Grove where Merle was born. Having farmed for 46 years, they retired in 1991 and moved to Rock City in 1992. Following Merle's death in 2006, she moved to North Liberty Iowa to be close to her daughter Kay.
Beulah attended the Dakota Community Presbyterian Church prior to her marriage to Merle, and later became a member of St. Paul Church of Epleyanna and was a Sunday school teacher, youth sponsor, a member of Women's Fellowship, member of the mixed choir, and helped start and sang in the Women's choir. She and Merle also sang at many weddings and funerals at St. Paul.
She served as Christian Education Chair and Spiritual Life Chair on the Freeport-LaSalle Regional and Synodical Boards of Women's Guild in the former E & R denomination and was a delegate to the National Synod meeting.
During their retirement years, she and Merle enjoyed traveling, with trips to Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean. Beulah enjoyed reading, the outdoors, gardening, and raising gladiolus, growing over 2,000 for several years. Music was one of her passions, and she was a former member of the Freeport Sweet Adeline's, Freeport Choral Society, and RSVP singers.
Survivors include her daughter, Kay (Charles) Geguzis of Solon, Iowa; three step-grandchildren, Cindy (Mike) Miles of Iowa City, IA, Chris (Kim) Geguzis of North Liberty, IA, and Scott (Beth) Geguzis of Williamsburg, IA; seven step-great grandchildren; three step-great great grandchildren, one sister, Phyllis Kurtz of Eau Claire, WI, her sister-in-law, Rachel Wise of Cedarville, and several nieces and nephews. Preceding her in death were her parents, husband, brother, Keith Wise, brother-in-law Donald Kurtz, and nephew, Steven Kurtz. Her family would like to thank the staff of Solon Retirement Village and Iowa City Hospice for their care of Beulah.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 am at the Dakota Community Presbyterian Church in Dakota, with visitation starting at 10:00 am until time of service. The Rev. Dick Thompson will officiate. Burial will be at the Dakota Cemetery. A memorial fund has been established.