Hilda F. Branning, age 99, of Arcadia, Iowa, passed away on Monday, September 12, 2011, at Eventide Nursing Home in Dennison, Iowa.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, September 16, 2011, at Zion Lutheran Church in Arcadia, Iowa, with Pastor Ben Dose officiating. Friends may call at the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home in Carroll where there will be a prayer service held at 7:00 a.m. The casket will be moved to the church at 8:30 a.m. on Friday where visitation will resume until the time of service. Organist for the service will be Lisa McNelley and the congregation will sing. Casket bearers will be Doug Kuhl, Kurt Branning, Jon Branning, Brent Branning, Jeff Cornelius, Chris Cornelius, and Nick Cornelius. Burial will be in the Arcadia Cemetery.

Born on January 28, 1912, on her family’s farm near Halbur, Iowa, she was the daughter of Ewald and Frieda (Koepke) Grundmeier. Hilda was baptized on April 24, 1912, and she was confirmed in the Lutheran Faith in 1926 at Zion Lutheran Church in Arcadia. She attended country school near Halbur as a girl where she met the love of her life Fred H. Branning. They were married on December 6, 1933, at Zion Lutheran Church in Arcadia. The couple farmed all their married life northwest of Halbur. Hilda was a member of Zion Lutheran Church in Arcadia and the Ladies Aid of the church. In her spare time she enjoyed cooking, cleaning, embroidering, and taking care of her family always providing excellent lunches.

Surviving are three daughters: Phyllis Kuhl and her husband Gene of Westside, Iowa, Beverly Branning and her husband Mike Tomlianovich of Bloomington, Illinois, and Bonnie Cornelius and her husband Ron of Vail, Iowa; a son Fred Branning Jr. and his wife Pat of Carroll; 13 grandchildren; 40 great grandchildren; eight great-great-grandchildren; a sister Ruth Tews of Council Bluffs, Iowa; a sister-in-law Bernice Branning. She was preceded in death by her husband Fred Sr. in 2006, and two brothers Alvin Grundmeier and Marcellus Grundmeier.