Ella May Impecoven

Larchwood, Iowa Visitation will be 2:00 to 7:00 p.m. Friday, December 15 at Roste Funeral Home in Larchwood, IA with family present from 6:00 p.m. A prayer service led by Vicki Rath will begin at 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, December 16, the funeral service will be 2:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Britton, SD officiated by Pastor Terry Sletto. Visitation will begin two hours prior to the service. Burial will follow at the Britton Cemetery. Ella May (Chesebro Hastings) Impecoven was born August 16, 1919 in McPherson County, South Dakota to Laken Wesley Chesebro and Mary Linvill (Montgomery Chesebro) Hastings. Her father died in 1928, and she was adopted by Cyril W. Hastings after her mother remarried. As a youngster, she grew up on the family farm in Marshall County, helping with farm chores and tending to her five younger siblings. She graduated from Hecla High School in 1938 and attended business school in Valley City, North Dakota for a brief time. She ventured to Oakland, California where she stayed with her aunt and uncle and took a job with Sears and Roebuck in womens clothing. On December 21, 1946 she married Lyle Harold Impecoven in the Methodist Church in Reno, Nevada. They made their home on the Impecoven homestead in Newark Township, northwest of Britton, South Dakota for 30 years where they farmed and raised their family. They were the third generation in the family to farm the land, raising cattle, hogs, and grain. In 1969, they moved into Britton and built a new home where they remained until retiring to Larchwood, Iowa in 1996. In two weeks, the couple would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Ella was a wife, mother of four, homemaker and active member of her rural community. In the early years, she knitted and mended for service men during the war. As a farm wife, she worked alongside her husband in the fields and tending livestock. She always had a large organic garden and preserved most all of the familys fruits and vegetables. Her homemade baked beans and fried chicken were famous at the familys annual July 4 picnics, as were her pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas. She is equally as celebrated for the multitude of handmade quilts and clothes that she has sewn. Ella was honored for 55 years in the Busy Bees Homemakers Club of Marshall County during which time she served as the county president and state secretary. She was involved with the 4-H program for 28 years with her children as well as at First Presbyterian Church with the Mary Martha womens circle. She was an active member in the Farmers Union, teaching youth groups and traveling with bus tours. Ella liked to stay busy and was employed at one time or another as a county food stamp cashier, school bus driver, a cook for livestock sales, and certified nursing assistant. Her hobbies included garden club, crocheting, reading, cooking, tracing her heritage, and traveling to nearly every state including Alaska with her husband and family. Grateful for having shared her life are her husband, Lyle H. Impecoven of Canton, SD; one son, Lyle Russell (Dawn) Impecoven of Larchwood, IA; two daughters: Elouise (Mark) Bell of Cincinnati, OH and Carolyn (Roger) Collins of Clark, SD; ten grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; two sisters: Marilyn (Delmar) Roehr of Britton and Elsie (Delton) Nelson of Lake City, SD; and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her eldest son: Harold (Cheri) Impecoven of Britton, SD; her parents; two brothers: Delbert (Bonnie) Chesebro and Cyril (Darlene) Hastings, Jr.; and one sister: Elizabeth Lucy (Daryl) Roehr.