Ila Mae Sprouse, 89, of Colfax, passed away Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, at her home. Funeral services were Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 1 p.m. at Coburn Funeral Home in Colfax. Burial was at McKeever Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to P.E.O. and condolences made for the family at www.coburnfuneralhomes.com.
The daughter of Carl and Alma (Kingma) Terpstra, Ila Mae was born July 9, 1934, at home near Searsboro. Sept. 5, 1953, she was united in marriage to Joe Gene Sprouse in Udel. Ila was a farm girl, who graduated from Lynnville High School in 1951 as her class president. She attended Des Moines Business School and over the years took various classes at Des Moines Area Community College. She was employed at Maytag from 1952 through 1954. She was a stay-at-home mother until 1967, when she was employed at First National Bank in Colfax as a teller. She remained there rising up to the position of head cashier leaving in 1989. She then was employed at First Newton National Bank as a teller until her retirement in January 1994.
In her retirement, Ila and Joe took numerous vacations traveling the entire continental United States, even driving to Alaska for a long trip to see the state. The pursuits she enjoyed both prior to retirement and after were camping, fishing, and mushroom hunting. In her youth, she was accomplished at playing the piano. When retired, she decided to take up quilting as her hobby and won numerous awards for some of her quilts that she entered in various contests. She produced a baby quilt that won Best of Show at the Iowa State Fair and had a quilt hang in the International Quilt Show in Paducah, KY, in 2015. The same quilt that hung in Paducah was showcased in the American Quilt Society calendar for 2015. She met a lady from Australia, who was a quilter, and developed a friendship with her (Jude Bond). They formed a collaboration between three U.S. quilters and three Australian quilters and sent quilt blocks to each other and each of the six quilters designed and made a quilt from the blocks they received. The quilt Ila Mae designed and made was entered in the Iowa State Fair, won a blue ribbon, and was awarded a special prize for the best use of color in 2005.
Those left to honor her memory include her children: Mark Sprouse, Suzanne Sprouse, and James Downey (Laurie) Sprouse; three grandchildren: Dirk Sprouse, Gabrielle (Ben) Innis, and Sarah (Matt) Lageman; six great-grandchildren: Henry, Spencer, Charlie, Parker, Samuel, and Harper; a sister Virginia (Jack) Paulsen; a brother Wilbur Terpstra; and nieces and nephews.
Preceding her in death were her parents, husband in 2008, a sister-in-law Fontella Terpstra, a daughter-in-law Susan, and a nephew Sheldon.
