Orpha Charlotte Burnquist, 94, passed away Saturday ,June 10, 1995 at the
Kanawha Community Home in Kanawha, Iowa.
Orpha was born April 12, 1901 on a farm west of Kanawha. She graduated from
Kanawha High School and Iowa Teachers College. She was united in marriage to
Russell Burnquist on August 24, 1923, at Kanawha. Orpha taught school in Arthur
and Kanawha, where they spent most their married life, and there she served many
years as city librarian. She was a member of the United Methodist Church,
U.M.W. and Golden Glow Rebekah Lodge #218 since 1920. Orpha dearly loved her
community and the people in it.
Survivors include four daughters, Lucille Thompson and her husband, Lowell "Tom"
of Duluth, Minnesota, Janis Lein and her husband, Kenneth of Lake Mills, Iowa,
Jane Reid and her husband, Fred of Mesa, Arizona, and Carmin Thorson and her
husband, Gary of Garner, Iowa; one sister, Alice Dinham of Edina, Minnesota;
twelve grandchildren, fourteen great-grandchildren, one great granddaughter and
many nieces and nephews.
Orpha was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Russell in 1985, five
brothers, Fred, Charles, Edward, William and Leslie, and two sisters, Mary and
Helen.