Rosella (Livengood) Wortman

Rosella Lavina Wortman, one of 10 children of Cora Ellen (Miner) Livengood and Andrew Jackson Livengood, was born near Pacific Junction, Iowa on February 8, 1912. Rosella and her family were raised in Pacific Junction and on different farms in the area. Rosella attended school in Pacific Junction and Bethlehem Country School through the eighth grade. Following school, Rosella came down with the small pox and the disease ran its course through out her family. Her father died of the disease in 1926. Rosella became a "hired girl" and did cooking and cleaning six days a week whenever work was available. On May 17, 1932, Rosella and Reed Merritt Wortman were married in Maryville, Missouri. They made their home on the family farm and were blessed with five children Joan, Merritt, Louise, Beverly, and Roger. Rosella loved her role of housewife and mother. She and Reed had been married 23 years at the time of Reed's death on October 11, 1954. Rosella was left to raise four young children. To supplement her low farm income, she worked as a cook at the Strahan School and worked dressing chickens for people in the area. She provided her children with a safe secure h...[more]

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and had made it possible for each to stay in school and earn a high school diploma. Rosella later moved to a home in Strahan, Iowa where she enjoyed mowing the lawn and taking care of her flowers and garden. She enjoyed her family, cooking, and preparing family dinners. Her other enjoyments included reading and traveling. Rosella moved to the Good Samaritan Center in Red Oak, Iowa on November 22, 2004. Following a broken hip on February 1, 2005, Rosella was admitted to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital in Red Oak. She died at the hopital on April 8, 2005 at the age of 93 years and two months. Rosella was preceded in death by her parents; husband Reed Wortman and daughter Joan Wortman Larson; sister Cora Nuss; brothers Joe Livengood, Bill Livengood, George Livengood, Andy Livengood, Fred Livengood, Sidney Livengood, Ross Livengood who died in infancy, and Elmer Livengood. Rosella is survived by her children Merritt Wortman and his wife Pat of Hastings, IA, Louise Hines and her husband Carl of Denver, MO, Beverly Gammon and her husband Marland of Glenwood, IA, and Roger Wortman and his wife Carol of Shannon City, IA; 13 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews; other relatives and friends.