Darlene J. Andersen, 84, of Sioux City, Iowa, formerly of Le Mars, Iowa, passed away on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 at Sunrise Retirement Community in Sioux City. A private family funeral service will be held with burial to follow at Resthaven Memory Gardens in Le Mars.

Darlene Joyce Andersen was born on April 5, 1932 in Remsen, Iowa to Charles and Elsa (Schmitz) Pritchett. She graduated from Le Mars High School in 1950. She also attended college at Bemidji State University in the late 1960s.

On September 24, 1959, Darlene was united in marriage to Robert L. Andersen in Remsen, Iowa. They honeymooned in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and later in life after retirement would take trips to the Black Hills on their wedding anniversaries.

After graduating from Westmar College in 1960, Robert accepted a position with the Social Security Administration, and Darlene was a homemaker and raised three children, Cheryl, Bryan and Mark. Her husband Robert preceded her in death, passing away October 12, 2015, at the age of 80 years old.

Darlene worked as an office worker for the Plymouth County Department of Agriculture after graduating from high school. She became a homemaker after marriage, but returned to work in 1977 becoming a librarian with the Sioux City Public Library. She worked full time at the library for 25 years.

Darlene loved books and was a lifelong, avid reader. She also enjoyed hobbies including sewing and crafts, and along with her son Mark, went to estate sales and collected antiques. She also enjoyed annual trips to Tacoma to visit her daughter Cheryl, where they would attend a big craft fair held each year in the Tacoma Dome.

Darlene enjoyed travel, and visited Japan in 1994 when her son Bryan married his wife Takako there. After she retired from working at the library, Darlene also took a trip to Hawaii with her daughter Cheryl. Her son Mark often travelled with her on trips to Tacoma.

Darlene was a cancer survivor, and lived more than 40 years after recovering from a serious diagnosis. She told her family that her faith was the thing that got her through that difficult time, and said that saying a little prayer before going into surgery and chemotherapy treatments was the reason she was healed and was able to live a healthy, productive life.

Darlene will be lovingly remembered by her daughter, Cheryl Lorenzo and her husband, Chris of Tacoma, WA, Bryan and his wife, Takako of Salem, OR and Mark and his wife, Teresa of Dell Rapids, SD; her brother, Keith and Pearl Pritchett of Pipestone, MN, her brother, Claire and Romell Pritchett of Lake Benton, MN, her sister, JoAnn and Cliff Rowenhorst of Merrill, IA, her brother, Kenneth and Colleen Pritchett of Coon Rapids, MN, her sister, LaVonne and Earl Edmonson of Ruthven, MN; sisters-in-law, Florence Grosenheider and Stella Herman both of Le Mars.

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