ARLENE NAGEL, 84, of rural Cherokee, Iowa, passed away Saturday morning, December 19, 2009 in the Cherokee Regional Medical Center following a brief illness.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, December 22nd, at 2 p.m. at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee. Rev. Ray Kruger will officiate and burial will be in the Afton Township Cemetery at rural Cherokee, Iowa. There will be a family prayer service at 1:45 p.m. at the funeral home on Tuesday. Visitation will be on Monday from 3 p.m. until 9 p.m. with the family present from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the funeral home. Online condolences can be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com

Arlene was born on March 17, 1925 in Cherokee County, Iowa to Jonas & Grace (Smith) Johnson. She was married to LeRoy H. Nagel on December 10, 1941 at Dakota City, Nebraska. She was a farm wife, raising her family and helping her husband around the farm. Arlene enjoyed flower gardening and canning in her early years. She had been a resident of the Cherokee County all her life and she had lived on a farm in Pilot Township southwest of Cherokee the past 62 years.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband on March 23, 2000, a great grandson Kyle Ruhlow, 2 brothers Merlin and Espy Johnson, 2 sisters Leona Koeppen and Evangalene Jenness.

She is survived by one son and one daughter: Gary Nagel and his wife Janet of Alta, Iowa; Jana Hoffman and her husband Ken of Colorado Springs, Colorado; 8 grandchildren; 14 great grandchildren: 2 sisters: Lorraine Plantz and her husband Roger of LeMars, Iowa; Velma Keats and her husband George of Chino Valley, Arizona; a brother-in-law Harlan "Shorty" Koeppen of Sioux City, Iowa; 2 sisters-in-law: Glenda Johnson of Cherokee, Iowa and Mildred Armstrong of Glendale, California; one aunt Emogene Clover of Cherokee, Iowa and several nieces and nephews.