OBITUARY: Daphne J. Fuhrmeister

Daphne J. Fuhrmeister, 82, of Iowa City passed away at home on Thursday, June 12, 2014.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, June 17th at 10 a.m. at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service -- 605 Kirkwood Avenue, Iowa City. Visitation will be Monday from 4-7 p.m. at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service. Burial will be at St. Joseph Cemetery.

Daphne was born October 6, 1931 in Des Moines to Edna and Erik England. She spent her early years in Belmont, Illinois with her grandparents George and Sarah Walters. She graduated from Atalissa High School where she was on the girls’ basketball team. She received a BA in fine arts from the University of Iowa. She worked for the City of Iowa City for over twenty years, first as the secretary of the Iowa City Fire Department and later as a senior records clerk in Police Records.

Daphne was an artist and was well-known for her prize winning photography, oil paintings, and her hand-made Christmas cards. She won several awards at the Iowa State Fair for her photography and cooking. In her later years, she took classes in writing at the University of Iowa and wrote her memoirs of her childhood on a Midwest farm and raising five children as a single mother in the 1960s. She attended several churches in the Iowa City area, most recently the Windham Community Church.

She married George Yansky in 1952 and married Ralph Fuhrmeister in 1973. She is survived by five children: Yvonne Kurtz (Richard) of St. Paul, Minnesota, David Yansky (Diane Burke) of Iowa City, Douglas Yansky (Yvette) of Iowa City, Becky Huard (Carl) of Danbury, New Hampshire and Dustin Yansky (Laurie Bottoms) of San Antonio, Texas. She is also survived by two sisters, Polly Robinson of Clifton, Colorado and Joanne Ellis of San Jose, California. Also surviving are several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Memorial donations may be made to the United Methodist Women of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church and the First Presbyterian Church Free Lunch Program.

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