Funeral services for Eunice Marie Grau Ahrendsen were held Sunday, June 29, 1997, at Zion Lutheran Church, Manning, Iowa. Pastor Curt Dwyer officiated the service with Helen Ohde as vocalist and Jennifer Drees as organist.

Interment was held in Manning Cemetery, Manning, Iowa, with Chris Stanton, Steven Pfannkuch, Dave Kusel, Duane Boersma, Ken Frahm and Glen Ahrendsen as casket bearers.
Honorary casket bearers were Linda Ahrendsen and Dolores Herbers.

Eunice, daughter of Ida (Grau) Kusel and step-daughter of August Kusel, was born October 5, 1912, near Manning; in Ewoldt Township, Carroll County, Iowa. She was baptized and confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church in Manning.

Eunice attended school in Manning and graduated from Manning High School in 1931. Eunice and Hugo Ahrendsen were united in marriage on July 15, 1932, at Hutchinson, Kansas. God blessed Eunice with a marriage of fifty-five years to Hugo and the gift of three children.

Eunice farmed with her husband 2 1/4 miles south of Manning for forty-three years. In 1975, they built a new home in Manning. She was devoted wife and mother and superb in her preparation of cookies, cakes and pies. Eunice loved fishing, playing cards with family and friends, traveling, puzzles, and butterflies.

Eunice was a member of Zion Lutheran Church and Dorcas Society. She worked at the church for many years preparing Braille materials. Always a lover of music, Eunice was a member of the Carroll County rural Women's Chorus. She was a charter member of the Friendly Neighbor Club, a member of Kozy Korner Klub, and also a volunteer at the Manning Plaza before she moved to Cedar Rapids in 1988. In 1993 she moved to The Meadows, a residential care facility, in Clarion, Iowa.

Eunice died from complications of heart and kidney disease on Thursday, June 26, 1997, at Community Memorial Hospital, Clarion, Iowa. She lived 84 years, 8 months and 21 days by the Lord's Pleasure.

Eunice was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Hugo, and her brother, Amos Kusel.

She is survived by her children: Alice and her husband, Norvin Hoffmeier, of Cedar Rapids;, Jan and, her husband, Jim Stanton, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Jon Ahrendsen and his wife, Becky, of Clarion. She is also survived by seven grandchildren; two great grandchildren; a brother and sister-in-law, Melvin and Marge Kusel, a sister-in-law, Dorothy Kusel; nieces and nephews; grand nieces and grand nephews; other relatives and many friends.