Jane Alice Strawn

January 29, 1943 - April 21, 2017

Jane Alice Strawn, 74, of Oskaloosa, died Friday, April 21, 2017, at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. She was born Friday, January 29, 1943, in San Diego, California, the daughter of John Lama and Mary Brown Stills. She graduated from the New Virginia High School with the Class of 1961. Following high school, Jane moved to Des Moines and worked at Bankers Life. She later moved to Cedar Rapids and worked for Rockwell Collins. She was united in marriage to Brian Baker, to this union two children were born, Brant and DeAnn. Jane and her family moved to Omaha and later to Rockford, Illinois, where she worked at Cole Chemical. Jane and Brian later divorced. On April 16, 1983, Jane was united in marriage to Dean Strawn at the Little Brown Church at Nashua. Dean had two children when the two of them were married. Jane was happy to add Jim and Pam into her family. She stayed home to care for her family and home until Pam was in Junior High. At that time, she went to work for the FSA office in Mahaska County. She later took a job at with the Mahaska County Sherriff’s office. She retired from there in the early 2000’s. She was a member of the Central United Methodist Church, Questers, and Xi Alpha Delta of Beta Sigma Phi sorority. Jane looked forward to gathering with family and friends. She always looked forward to Wednesday nights with her lady friends, Thursday’s with her and Dean’s couples friends, and then Friday evenings at the Elks. She enjoyed Zen tangling, scrapbooking, working on puzzles, and doing crafts. She delighted in spending time with her family. Her family includes her husband of over 34 years Dean Strawn of Oskaloosa, four children, Brant (Fiancee, Vanessa Minick) Baker of Des Moines, DeAnn (Brent) Knoot of Oskaloosa, Jim (Ann) Strawn of Clive, and Pam (Brian) Harrison of Waukee; twelve grandchildren, Lexus, Sam, Taylor, Leah, Paiven, Jack, Emily, Parker, Brock, Tate, Sam, and Clark; two sisters, Evelyn (Donald) Norris of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Jane’s twin sister, Joan (Joseph) Forman of Apple River, Illinois; and a brother, Melvin (Sue) Stills of New Virginia. Jane was preceded in death by her parents, and two brothers, Francis and John Stills. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. in the Bates Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa with Reverend Bruce Wittern officiating. As was Jane’s wish her body will be cremated following the funeral ceremony. Burial of the urn will be in the New Virginia Cemetery at a later date. The Bates Funeral Chapel is in charge of the arrangements. Visitation will begin Monday after 1 p.m. in the Bates Funeral Chapel and the family will be at the funeral chapel from 4-7 Monday evening to greet friends and relatives. Memorials may be made to the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Reserve Unit.