Obituary of Delores Mae Ekwall

Mrs. Delores Mae Schertz Ekwall of Murfreesboro, Tennessee passed away peacefully on Thursday, January 29, 2015 in Community Care of Rutherford County at the age of 87. Mrs. Ekwall was born in Ottumwa, Iowa to the late Roscoe and Edith Schertz. She is preceded in death by her husband of 67 years, William “Bill” John Ekwall, and brothers: Gene, Delbert, Paul and Bobby. She is survived by her daughter Barbara and son-in-law Terry Gould, Grandchildren Heather and Greg Lawson, and Great Grandchildren, MacKenzie and Joshua Lawson, all of Murfreesboro. Mrs. Ekwall is also survived by her sisters Alice Williams (Bob) and Judy Moline (Mark), brother Bill Schertz (Mary) and sisters-in-law Madelene and Icel Schertz. Mrs. Ekwall was retired from the South Ottumwa Bank, Ottumwa, Iowa following a 27-year career as a teller and bookkeeper. She was an accomplished seamstress, crafting both business attire and casual clothing for her daughter, and six bridesmaids’ gowns for her granddaughter’s wedding. Her greatest pleasure was seeing the entire family sitting around her dining room table every Sunday with her “Thanksgiving” style dinners. No dinner was complete without one of her special “must-have-two-servings” desserts, and no birthday was celebrated without her and Bill churning up a batch of creamy “Milky Way” homemade ice cream. She will always be remembered for her colorful, hand-knitted wash cloths, her every-Thursday baked cookies, the best, spoon-from-the-jar strawberry and wild black cherry jellies and the most wonderful homemade Christmas candies. If she wasn’t in the kitchen, she wasn’t at home. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation. Services will be held for Mr. and Mrs. Ekwall on April 25, 2015, in their hometown of Ottumwa, Iowa.