Virginia Steil, 91, of Oelwein passed away on Wednesday March 26, 2025 at Arlington Place Assisted Living in Oelwein. Visitation was from 4:00-7:00 PM on Wednesday April 2, 2025 at the Geilenfeld-Buehner Funeral Home in Oelwein. Mass of Christian Burial was at 10:30 AM on Thursday April 3, 2025 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oelwein. Interment is in Woodlawn Cemetery at Oelwein. Memorials may be directed to the family for a later designation. www.geilenfeldfh.com
Virginia Rose Steil was born in Emmetsburg on October 18, 1933, to parents James and Laura (Hardinger) Manwarren, the tenth out of twelve children.
She attended School at Emmetsburg – St. Ellen’s, where she also received her first communion. She then attended Rodman Grade School and then Emmetsburg School.
On August 25, 1951 Virginia was united in marriage with Donald Steil at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Emmetsburg.Ten children were born to this union.
In 1951, shortly after marriage, Donald and Virginia moved to Iowa City. Donald started school at the U of I and Virginia went to work at the Old Capitol building, typing addresses on envelopes, also working at the General Store which provided supplies to the hospital. From Iowa City they moved to Emmetsburg and then on to West Bend, Estherville, Oelwein and Hazleton, until the tornado in 2008 relocated them to Fairbank. Virginia worked as a CNA at Mercy Hospital in Oelwein, also with Fayette and Buchanan County Public Health. Virginia served on the Hazleton City Council for 18 years and served as Mayor for 4 years.
Virginia shared stories of her life with her children, here are just a few… Her sister, Lucille was always getting her a job and Loretta was always picking Virginia up to help do the laundry on the weekends, one time Virginia didn’t come home after school and spent the time at the library so Loretta had to go home without Virginia and do her own laundry. Virginia also spent her summers in Colorado to help her brother Gene and his wife Bonnie. She remembers the rattle snakes in the outhouse, and how she hated using the outhouse. Virginia learned to drive while in Colorado with the help of her brother Gene. He told her to make a U-turn on the road, which she did, and he told her that she didn’t have to wipe out half of the wheat field just to turn around. One time Virginia and her brother John slid down the new pile of straw from the oats being thrashed and really caught hell from their dad, but they had a great time sliding. Virginia also talked about growing up during the depression days when not everyone could go to town at the same time because people would steal the chickens. One time Virginia was supposed to wash the dishes but decided to put them in the cook stove instead. When her mom came home, she fired up the stove, they had very warm, dirty dishes for supper that night. She shared with the family the memories of having to place cardboard in their shoes to cover the holes to keep the snow, dirt, and water out of them and to keep her feet somewhat dry. She talked of the first “ garbage disposals”, which were their chickens and pigs on the farm. When Donald and Virginia were dating, Donald rode a Harley, which drove Virginia’s mother, Laura, nuts because she just knew Donald was going to kill Virginia on that bike. Virginia also believed that you should never eat Chocolate Chips unless they were in cookies.
Virginia is survived by her children: Michael (Linda) Steil, Jeanine (Dennis) Tellin, James (Kris) Steil, Mary (Jim) Scharnhorst, Colleen (Jeff) Frake, John (Karla) Steil, Dennis Steil, Kate (Duane) Taylor; her daughter-in-law Sandy Steil; her 22 grandchildren, 41 great-grandchildren, and 1 great -great grandchild; her sister Joann Nickles; her sister-in-laws: June Manwarren, Virginia Meade and Ellen (Dick) Mueller; her brother-in-law Mike (Esty) Steil.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Donald in 2020; her sons: Dan and Donald Jr. Steil; her grandchildren: Christopher Steil, Matthew and Michael Steil and William Scharnhorst; her great-grandchildren: Abigail and Hannah Thompson, and Blake Steil; her brothers: Frank (Dode), Gene (Bonnie), Bob (Ella), James, John, and Orville (Nettie) Manwarren; her sisters: Evelyn (John) Moran, Marie (Roy) Stoulil, Lucille (Dayton) Allen and Loretta (Dale) Poland.
