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RIO TOWNSHIP – Iva Louise Gamel, 87, a former longtime resident of Dixon and Rock Falls, passed away Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield after a short illness.
Iva was born Iva Louise Palmer on Feb. 25, 1924, in Hamilton, Ala., to Clover McKinley and Cora Lee Palmer. She graduated from Hamilton High School in 1943. She worked at several banks in Alabama, Oklahoma and Illinois in her younger years. She was married to Gerald W. “Jerry” Gamel on July 26, 1944, in Oklahoma City. He preceded her in death Nov. 29, 2001.
After raising her family, Iva entered the workforce again, starting in the 1970s as a receptionist in the Dixon studios of WSDR Radio AM-1240; and later from 1983 to 1988 as company bookkeeper and corporate secretary of WFXW-AM 1480 in Geneva. In 1988, Iva moved to the 190-year-old Gamel family farm in Rio Township, where she lived until her recent illness.
Iva Gamel was active in the Presbyterian churches of the communities she lived in, including Sterling, Dixon and Rio. She was president of the United Presbyterian Women’s Association in Dixon, the Dixon Women’s Club, the Phidian Art Club of Dixon and the Lee County Historical Society. She was a volunteer guide at the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home in Dixon, when it was first opened in 1981. Iva and her husband attended the first inaugural ball of Ronald Reagan in 1981, in Washington, D.C. She was a 44-year member of the PEO Sisterhood, in which she held most major offices.
She also was a deacon of the Rio Presbyterian Church; past president of the Rio Women’s Club; a member of the Round Table clubs in Galesburg; and the Galesburg Civic Art Center. She taught Sunday school at the Dixon Presbyterian church for 20 years; was a Girl Scout leader for 5 years; and a 4-H leader for 7 years.
Iva is survived by two children, Trudy Lee (Roy) Ballinger of Rochester and Bennett Palmer (Paula) Gamel of Monroe, La.; and four grandchildren, including Andra Dianne (David) Grable, 34, of Springfield, Jennifer Lynn (Brian) Switzer, 30, of Henderson, Nev., and Kelli Renee Gamel, 21, and Emily Victoria Gamel, 19, both of Monroe. Iva Gamel also is survived by four great-grandchildren, Montgomery Davis Grable, 6, and Evelynn Ripley Grable, 3, both of Springfield, and Ethan William Switzer, 3, and Madilynn Elizabeth Switzer, 2 weeks old, both of Henderson. Iva also is survived by a beloved brother, Herbert Hoover (Jean) Palmer, 83, of Birmingham, Ala.; stepgrandson, Mark Allen (Stephanie) Ballinger, 35, of Springfield; a sister-in-law, Margaret Palmer of Gulfport, Miss.; and many nieces and nephews.
In addition to the “love of her life,” Jerry Gamel, she also was preceded in death by her beloved parents, Clover and Cora Lee Palmer; sister Elizabeth (James) Brown, brothers, Harrison (Margaret) Palmer, Arthur (Kathy) Palmer, and Horrice (Billie Jean) Palmer; grandmother, Mary Dizenia “Mammy” Palmer; and a special nephew, James Roger Brown.
Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Peterson-Wallin-Knox Funeral Home in Woodhull. Services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Maura McGrath-Nagle of Rio Presbyterian Church officiating. Burial will be at Woodhull Cemetery.
Memorials have been established to Rio Presbyterian Church, the KM chapter of the PEO Sisterhood, and the Roger Brown Study Collection Museum of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.