Barbara Eloise (Turner) Molloy died at Addington Place of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa of natural causes on March 17, 2025. She was born June 5, 1932 in San Francisco, CA to George and Lucille (Burkdoll) Turner. Later the family moved to southern California where she graduated from South Gate High School in 1950.

In August of 1950, she married John Secord, and they welcomed five children into the family. They later divorced. In 1967, she met and married Edward Molloy and welcomed another daughter into the family. She was a homemaker for many years, then worked as a buyer at North American in Downey, CA and then at Litton Industries in Culver City, CA and Pasagoula, MS (Ingalls Shipyard) before retiring.

Barbara and Ed enjoyed sailing in southern California, especially getaways to Catalina Island, and after transferring to Mississippi in 1972, sailed in the Gulf of America. For two years, they lived aboard and cruised around Florida and up the east coast. They also traveled the United States in their RV while working for Trailer Life/Good Sam.

Grandma Honey, as her grandchildren call her, loved being with family so much that she and Ed instituted week-long family reunions for their six adult children and families who were now living spread across the United States. This tradition continued from 1987 to 2001, when the family gatherings transitioned into grandchildren’s weddings.

After Ed’s death in 2003, Barbara applied and was accepted as a live-in volunteer with the Benedictine Sisters of Florida and Holy Name Monastery in St. Leo, FL. Although she worried at age 70, she was too old, and the sisters might not let her stay very long, the friendship with the sisters grew and she stayed until 2020 when she moved to Addington Place of Mt. Pleasant, IA, an assisted living center.

Edward Molloy, her husband, preceded her in death. She is survived by her children – Grogory Secord (Tracy), Margi Mountz (Ted), Maureen Kaupke (Jeff), Philip Secord (Marisa), Lori McCarley (John) and Cindy Borland (Kevin); sisters Shirley Lawrence (Dick) and Jane Turner; 19 grandchildren, 34 great grandchildren, fournieces and one nephew.

A visitation and rosary will take place at Moss Feaster Funeral Home, 693 South Belcher Road, Clearwater, FL, 33764. A funeral mass will be celebrated at Saint Catherine of Ssiena Catholic Church, 1955 S. Belcher Rd., Clearwater. A reception will take place immediately after Mass in the parish hall. Interment at Calvary Catholic Cemetery will follow the reception.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Benedictine Sisters of Florida, Holy Name Monastery, 12138 Wichers Road, St. Leo, FL, 33574 or https://benedictinesistersoffl.org

Local arrangements have been entrusted to the Kimzey Funeral Home, 213 North Main Street, Mount Pleasant.

Online condolences may be directed to www.kimzeyfh.com.

Roland D. Batten, 90, of the Keosauqua Health Center, formerly of Croton, Iowa, and Chicago, Illinois, passed away at 5:30 a.m. Monday, March  7, 2025 at the Keosauqua Health Center.

Born November 12, 1934 in Keokuk, Iowa, the son of Harry S. and Irma (Ferguson) Batten.

Survivors include two brothers: Bill (June) Batten of Croton, Iowa and  Bob (Sandy) Batten of Mount Pleasant, Iowa; sister Audrey Willits of Croton, Iowa; nephews: Scott Batten, Eric Batten, William Batten, Robert Willits, David Willits, Nathan Batten, and Aaron Batten; and nieces: Jennifer Wells and Sherri Rider.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother Chris Batten; and nephews Zachary Batten, and  Johnathan Batten.

Roland was the manager of  Union Station in Chicago. He attended many theatre performances throughout the years. He was an avid Chicago Cubs baseball fan. Roland loved spending time with his family.

His body has been entrusted to the crematory of Schmitz Funeral Home for cremation.

A private family burial will be held at a later date in the Croton Cemetery.

Memorials have been established in his memory and can be mailed to Schmitz Funeral Home  P.O. Box 56, Donnellson, Iowa 52625.

Online condolences may be made to the family at www.schmitzfuneralhomes.com. Schmitz Funeral Home of Farmington is assisting the family with arrangements.

Garth Ganka Obituary

Garth A. Ganka, 88, of Burlington and formerly of Mt. Pleasant, passed away on Monday, March 17, 2025, at the West Point Care Center.

 A celebration of his life will be held on Friday, March 21, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at the Murphy Funeral Home in Mt. Pleasant.  Burial will follow with full military honors in the Oakland Mills Cemetery.  The family will receive friends from 10 until service time on Friday at the Murphy Funeral Home.  Memorials may be directed to All God’s Creatures in his memory.

John Jones Obituary

John I. Jones 68, of Burlington passed away on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at the Southeast Iowa Regional Hospice House in West Burlington.

According to his wishes no services are planned and cremation has been entrusted to the care of Murphy Funeral Home of Mt. Pleasant.

David Clarence Featherstun of Mt. Pleasant, IA, passed away on March 14, 2025 at the age of 47. David was also known as Dave Bennett to the people in his hometown because he wanted to by mysterious and cool like that…In reality, it was easier to go by Bennett that to explain why he had a different name than his dad. His friends also knew him as just Dave, his military friends knew him as “Nuts”, and to his admirers as “The Dave”.

David was born February 6, 1978 in Ridgecrest, CA. He was the oldest son (by 5 minutes and bragged about it) to Ann (Mettenburg) Bennett and Robert Featherstun. Ann remarried in 1990 and David, along with his twin brother Thomas and younger sister Cassie, gained a father in John Bennett.

After high school David joined the US Air Force where he thrived and became part of an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team where he was given the nickname “Nuts”. Was it because he was crazy? Nope – just that it is the last four letters in his last name spelled backwards. While on active duty, he was stationed stateside and overseas in Panama and Italy. David had deployments to Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. He came back to Iowa to retire from the military after 9-11 and a few trips to the Middle East. He was repeatedly drawn back to the military and maintained connections through the Reserves and National Guard, deploying several more times. He was a Veteran and a brother to many, not just to family and friends.

David leaves behind two sons, Tristan and Gabriel Featherstun of Washington, IA. He enjoyed weekends with the boys at the farm or out and about. Some of the greatest memories are adventures with the boys and cousins exploring and spending time together with their families. Family birthdays and holidays were never dull with everyone together.

David also leaves behind his best friends and anchor, Alyssa Sarazin of Burlington, IA. They enjoyed cooking together, sending photos to brag about delicious food to family and friends. They loved to travel together and were quite the team.

David was always helping others and was passionate about his work. For the last few years, he worked for one of his best friends, Josh Klindt, and was able to fulfill his need to help others, and boss people around.

David was a master at debating-arguing-dictating-talking…whatever you would like to call it. David could debate anything and thrived on playing Devil’s Advocate. If you had a minute, he would love to discuss politics, religion…really anything, and tell you exactly how it is. After a few hours, he might let you go if he was done telling you how he was right. Joking aside, David loved to discuss politics and was passionate about his own personal convictions. However ornery, he did enjoy hearing and empathizing with other people’s points of view.

David enjoyed the outdoors and took his boys fishing, hunting, hiking, boating and camping. If it was outdoors, he was all in. He enjoyed mushroom hunting with his family, even though Cassie always out-hunted him and Thomas could smell them before David had a chance to see them. He said he liked deer hunting, but we are convinced he did it only so he was not left out and to have the opportunity to debate with someone. He liked to go to the Bennett Farm to repair fences, clean out barns or just to be with the animals and fresh air.

David had the best friends in the world, who have been by his side since moving to Iowa. Having friend connections like these are rare and beautiful; you know who you are, and David thought the world of you.

David meets in heaven his maternal grandmother, Mary Fran Mettenburg. They are probably playing a game of Euchre with great grandparents, Joe and Virginia Heitz, great-grandparents Joe and Mildred Mettenburg will greet him too with open arms. If anyone was bored, no worries – the entertainment has arrived.

Left behind to have no one to debate with to the level David provided are his parents, Ann and John Bennett of Mt. Pleasant, siblings Thomas Bennett of Mt. Pleasant and Cassie (Troy) Graber of Wayland, IA; David’s children – Tristan and Gabe Featherstun of Washington, IA; his girlfriend, Alyssa Sarazin of Burlington, IA; his beloved nieces and nephews who thoroughly enjoyed their Uncle David: Owain Bennett, Elyssa Graber, Deedra Graber, Jacob Graber and Jenna Graber; his grandfather, Clarence Mettenburg of Mt. Pleasant, and his grandmother Rose Bennett of Spokane, WA. Also leaving behind lots of close uncles, aunts and cousins. David stayed close to his stepchildren, Asia, Jayden, Jaren, Lexi (and special niece Nikki). He had a good relationship with his ex-wife Keetah Featherstun of Washington. We are fortunate that our blended families can all sit together as a big family for the boys’ activities at school. He also leaves behind his father Robert Featherstun of Oceanside, CA, and siblings – Val (Rob Felgar) Featherstun of Fontana, CA, Steph (Brett) Ashmore of Justin, TX and their children, Robby Featherstun and his children of Oceanside, CA, and Melissa (Taylor) Villa and their child of Ontario, CA.

A celebration of David’s life will be held beginning at 12 Noon on Sunday, June 15 at the Lodge at Lake Darling State Park. A private family inurnment will be held at Richwoods Cemetery, rural Mt. Pleasant.

The Kimzey Funeral Home, 213 N. Main St., Mt. Pleasant, is caring for David and his family.