SYLVIA E. KERNS , 94, of Cherokee, Iowa and formerly of Quimby, passed away peacefully, with her family by her side, Friday afternoon, April 18, 2014, in the Countryside Estates.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, April 22nd, at 11 a.m. at the Quimby United Methodist Church. Pastor Barb Dinelli will officiate. There will be a family prayer service at 10:45 a.m. at the church on Tuesday. Burial will be in the Quimby Cemetery at a later date. Visitation will be on Monday from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m, with the family present from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee. Online condolences can be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com

Sylvia was born to Orrie and Lizzie (Sargent) Parker on November 9, 1919, the 10 ^th of 10 children in Quimby, Iowa. She moved with her folks to Cushing, Iowa, in April of 1920, where she attended school and graduated from Cushing in 1937. Sylvia married Elery Kerns on February 10, 1940 at Sibley, Iowa, by a friend of Elery's family, Rev. L. Havighurst. To this union five children were born. They moved to a farm 2 ½ miles east and ½ mile south of Washta, Iowa. They lived there for 21 years, then they moved to Quimby. She had worked at the Hartley Creamery in Cherokee and then at Brown's Grocery in Quimby for many years until her retirement. Elery passed away on February 1, 2002. She lived in Quimby until November of 2003, when she moved to the Willowbrook Apartments in Cherokee. She loved to play cards and she rarely lost. Sylvia was a loving and caring mother and grandmother; she was the family historian and will be dearly missed by her family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, 4 brothers and 5 sisters: Howard, John, Hattie Schumacher, Helen Rasmussen, Harlan, Heather (died in infancy), Carl, Julia Cipperley, and Freda Thompson; one brother-in-law Dale Kerns; five sisters-in-law: Nina Crouch, Delia Brandt, Mildred Anderson, Mable Eby and Marjorie Small; one granddaughter Jill (Brown) Berge; three great grandchildren Nicole, Kodi and Nicholas Kerns.

She is survived by her five children: Doreen Kerns-Sambrano of Cherokee, Iowa; James Kerns and his wife Barbara of Spencer, Iowa; Raymond Kerns and his good friend Connie Duke of Quimby, Iowa; Alfred Kerns and his wife Susan of Quimby, Iowa; Gloria Bjorklund and her husband Bruce of Bloomington, Minnesota; 16 grandchildren, 42 great grandchildren, and 4 great great grandchildren; also many nieces, nephews, cousins, and many friends.