VIRGINIA RHEA, 82, of rural Quimby, Iowa, passed away Friday morning, November 27, 2015 in the Cherokee Regional Medical Center.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, November 30th, at 10:30 a.m. at the Quimby Baptist Church in Quimby, Iowa. Dr. Robert Stout will officiate. Burial will be in the Afton Township Cemetery at rural Cherokee, Iowa. There will be a family prayer service at 10:15 a.m. at the church on Monday. Visitation will be on Sunday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. with the family present from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee. Online condolences can be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com

Virginia was born on November 18, 1933 in Cherokee County, Iowa to Dale & Bessie (Smith) Martin. She grew up on a farm 10 miles north of Cherokee. She attended Country School thru the 8th grade and attended Cherokee High School thru 9th grade and then in later years attained her G.E.D. at the age of 57. She was married to Robert R. Rhea on August 6, 1952 at Pine City. Minnesota. She had worked as a waitress in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in the Battery Factory in Sioux City, Iowa, was the owner and operator of the Quimby Café in the 1980's and was a Nurse's Aide at the Sioux Valley Memorial Hospital in Cherokee for many years, retiring in 1998. Virginia was a very active member of the Quimby Baptist Church; over the years she had been the church secretary, a Sunday School Teacher, active in Bible Study Classes and Women's Retreat. She enjoyed cooking, gardening, canning, dancing, fishing, bird watching, reading her Bible and mysteries, going on trips with her family, and helping out at her church any way that she could.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Robert on April 26, 1987, her in-laws William and Nora Rhea, a brother-in-law George Rhea, sister-in-law Delores Rhea, and a nephew James Craig.


She is survived by her four sons: Kenneth (Colleen) Rhea of rural Quimby, Iowa; Randall (Paula) Rhea of rural Quimby, Iowa; Bob Rhea of rural Quimby, Iowa; Bill (Terry) Rhea of St. Joseph, Minnesota; 9 grandchildren; 18 great grandchildren 1 great great grandson; one sister Linda (Bob) Craig of Cherokee, Iowa; 2 sisters-in-law: Janet (Gus) Kai of Aurelia, Iowa; Janet Myers of Wayne Nebraska; also several nieces and nephews.