Ila Jean Boerm

TRAER-Ila Jean Boerm, 84, of Traer, formerly of Toledo, passed away Saturday, August 31, 2024, at Sunrise Hill Care & Rehab Center, Traer, following an almost four-decade battle with breast cancer. Funeral Services will be held Friday, September 6, 2024 at 10:30 AM at Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home in Tama. Interment will follow at Crystal Cemetery in rural Garwin. Visitation will be held Thursday, September 5, 2024 from 4-7 PM at Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home.

The youngest daughter of Riley William and Pauline Maree (ZmoIek) Head, Ila Jean was born on August 18, 1940, at home on the farm of her paternal grandparents, Jacob Burnside and Grace Head. When she was a toddler, the family moved a mile west to another farm, and Ila Jean attended country school. Ila Jean and her beloved older sister Sharon rode ponies and helped their parents on the farm. In January 1950, they moved to Toledo.

She worked various jobs as a girl and teenager, including behind the counter at Hugo’s Drug Store in Toledo and the Royal Dairy Ice Cream Shop in Tama. A 1958 graduate of Toledo High School, Ila Jean was the 1957 Homecoming Queen and the 1957 FFA Sweetheart. She was a twirler and later majorette for the marching band, acted in school plays, played the piano, sang, and played basketball. During her senior year, she sank two free throws at the end of the game to win the county tournament. She was also class valedictorian in 1958.

After high school, she attended Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) for one year. Then she went to work at the Tama County Farm Bureau office, working on the insurance side.

On September 10, 1960, she married her high school sweetheart, Lonnie E. Boerm, at the Evangelical United Brethren Church in Toledo. They resided in a little house on East Marshall Street in Toledo until April 1962 when they moved to their first farm northeast of Garwin. For a time, she worked for Fred Pieper Insurance Agency. After the birth of her first child, she spent the next few decades as a full-time farm wife and mother. From taking care of her family and house to gardening, lawncare, and helping Lonnie with their crop and livestock operation, she did it all.

As her youngest child was preparing to leave the nest, she found work outside the home at the Tama County Courthouse in the Recorder’s Office and then at the Garwin/GMG Community School District as a teacher’s aide, library aide, and finally as the school secretary. After 25 years at the school, she retired in 2014.

Ila Jean’s hobbies focused on music and sports. She served as a church organist most of her life, starting when she was in fifth grade. Until recent months, she played the organ for religious services at the nursing home where she resided. As her children and grandchildren grew, Ila Jean was a staple in the bleachers and auditorium seats. A competitive person, she thrived on watching her family pursue and excel at their passions throughout their childhoods, high school years, and at the collegiate level.

During their later years, she and Lonnie traveled to various destinations with some of their friends and relatives who were also empty nesters. They cruised to Alaska twice. Another trip was a charter to Germany and Austria – in Salzburg, she retraced the steps of the von Trapp family from one of her favorite musicals, The Sound of Music. Their other travels included drives to the Pacific Northwest and to New England. In more recent years, she joined a charter that visited Greece and Italy.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1986, Ila Jean fought off the disease for many decades. As her health declined, she moved into assisted living in Traer in 2021. In March 2024, she went into the facility’s palliative care unit.

During the last days of her life, Ila Jean was surrounded by her beloved family and friends. She is survived by three children, Traci (James) Kullmer of Oelwein, Dr. Kurt (Judy) Boerm of Traer, and Chris (Cara) Boerm of Iowa City; six grandchildren, Dr. Brendon (Dr. Gracie Deery) Boerm of Waterloo, Katie Kullmer of Keystone, Dr. Mitchell (Sarah) Boerm of Toledo, Ashley Kullmer of Cedar Rapids, Conner Boerm of Wichita, KS, and Callie Boerm of Iowa City; two great-grandchildren, Blake and Grace Boerm of Toledo; one brother-in-law, Bud Ewell of Norwalk; one nephew, Brent (Dr. Pam) Ewell of Pella; a great-niece, Colleen (Tony) Uhlenkamp of Sun Prairie, WI; two great-nephews, Scott (Amber) Ewell of Leander, TX, and Austin (Abbey) Ewell, Waukee; and five great-great nieces and nephews with another one on the way.

Preceding Ila Jean in death were her parents; her husband in 2008; her in-laws, Edwin and Mayme (Skala) Boerm; her sisters Irma Jean (in infancy) and Sharon; and her nephew, Michael Ewell.

A memorial fund will be established.

The family would like to thank the staff at Sunrise Hill Care and Rehab Center (especially Roxie Konicek) and Dr. Mark Karwal and the staff at the UIHC Holden Cancer Center for their years of care for our mother and grandmother.