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Obituary for Janice Evelyn Kalbach
Janice Evelyn (Bentley) Kalbach, 79, of Menlo passed away on Saturday, January 21, 2017 at the Urbandale Health Care Center in Urbandale. Visitation will be from 6-8 PM on Thursday, February 2nd at the Johnson Family Funeral Home in Stuart. Celebration of Life service will be at 10:30 AM on Friday, February 3rd at the Johnson Family Funeral Home in Stuart. Burial will be at RoseHill Cemetery in Menlo. Memorial contributions may be directed to the Menlo Fire Department and/or the Menlo Public Library.
Jan was born on August 2, 1937 to Alice (Hunter) and Gilbert Bentley Sr. in Boone, Iowa. She was raised on a farm north of Ames and graduated from Gilbert High School with the class of 1955. She attended Boone Jr. College from 1955 to 1957 and later finished her BA in Education at Drake University in Des Moines. She taught for four years in Menlo and one year in Jefferson. On June 10, 1962 Jan was united in marriage to Harry Kalbach at Grace Methodist Church in Des Moines, Iowa. To this union three children were born: Kurt, Colleen and Julia; the family made their home in Menlo. She returned to teaching at Stuart-Menlo Elementary School in Menlo in 1974 and continued until her retirement in 2004. She also helped with the bookkeeping at Kalbach Oil for many years.
Jan enjoyed working with ceramics, china painting, taking photos, stained glass and reading. She loved to travel with her family and parents. She was especially fond of all the kids she taught over the years.
She was preceded in death by her parents; infant-sister, Alice Jean; and sister, Roberta Wright.
She leaves behind to cherish her memory her husband, Harry of Menlo; children: Kurt Kalbach of Duluth, MN, Colleen (Dave) Hodson of Des Moines and Julia (Travis) Green of Redfield; siblings, Marion (Gary) Johnson of Story City and Gilbert (Charlotte) Bentley Jr. of Ames; brother-in-law, Leland Wright of Bettendorf and a host of other family and friends that will miss her dearly.
