Alice Marie Newby Fitzgerald was born September 11, 1925, to Sam and Hazel (Dunn) Newby. She was the youngest of six children. After a well-lived life, she gained her angel wings to rejoin her husband, Bob, who passed away in 2012. She was 97 years old, just two days shy of her birthday.

She was an avid basketball player while in school. After graduating from Owasa School, she thought about being an airline stewardess, but in those days, you needed to be a nurse. She went to Mercy School of Nursing in Marshalltown. In her basketball days is where she met the love of her life, Bob. The two married on September 14, 1946, at the Little Brown Church. They were married over 66 years at the time of his passing. They were quite a pair, almost always together unless they were working. Education was very important to her, and she continued taking classes to receive her BSN. Throughout the years, Alice used her nursing skills in many ways; doctor’s offices, hospitals and retiring from the Iowa Veterans Home. Alice received many awards, including recently being awarded a lifetime achievement award in nursing. When she wasn’t working, Alice stayed active in various ways including decorating cakes, helping on the farm, tending to her flower garden and fancy needlework. She was a longtime member of the Iowa Church of the Brethren, acting as a teacher of the nursing class. She was a great mother, a great person, strict at times and very intelligent. Although she and her daughter would butt heads quite often, she will be missed, and it’s a blessing to know she had a great life and is with Bob now.

Alice was preceded in death by her husband, Bob, her parents, six siblings, and two nieces.

She will be missed by her daughter, Vicki (Jerry) Miller, of Ankeny, two granddaughters; Tara (Adam) Palmiotto, of Sioux Falls, SD, Megan (Ryan) Kennedy, of Sheldahl, IA, two great grandchildren, Katelyn and Tanner Kennedy, of Sheldahl, along with four nephews and one niece.