Darlene Fletcher

Darlene Fletcher, daughter of Kenneth Leslie Wright and Isilda Julia Smith Wright, was born on May 24, 1936. She was united in marriage to Ronald Fletcher on August 1, 1954 at Sidney, Iowa and they were blessed with two children, Cynthia Ruth and Dale Leslie.

Darlene was born in Centralia, Kansas where she and her family lived before moving at the age of 4 to Sidney, Iowa in 1940. She attended Sidney school from 1st grade to her graduation in 1953. She was a baton twirler and led the Sidney High School band as their drum majorette. While growing up she had many jobs, including detasseling corn, ushering at the Sidney Rodeo and selling popcorn at the Sidney movie theater.

She married Ronald Fletcher on August 1, 1954 and they moved to Honey Creek, Nebraska. From there they moved to Sanborn, Iowa where Cindy was born on July 15, 1957 and Dale was born on July 29, 1959. After living in Sanborn for 4 years, they moved to Arnolds Park, Iowa.

In 1961, they moved to Ayrshire, Iowa where they lived for 11 years, making many of the friends that Darlene carried with her for the rest of her life. They moved to Humeston, Iowa for one year, and in 1973 moved to Winterset, Iowa. Darlene got her first adult job selling lunch tickets to the grade school kids. She loved this job. Darlene’s real job, which she took very seriously, was being a wife and mother. Family was her everything.

After retiring, they moved to Missouri for two years, where they discovered they were too far away from family. So once again, they moved back to Iowa and lived at Sun Valley for 6 years. They then returned to Winterset where they still had many friends and memories.

Darlene passed away Thursday, March 9, 2023, at MercyOne Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. She was 86 years old.

Darlene is survived by her children, Cindy and Dale; 4 grandchildren, Michael (Cindy) Fritz, Sarah (Eric) Updike, Ashley Harvey, and Faylan Boettger; 9 great-grandchildren; and sisters, Shirley Briggs and Bonnie Ward.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ronald; parents, Kenneth and Isilda Wright; sisters, Wilma Chapman and Margie Thomas; and brother, Jerry Wright.

Memorial Services will be held at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, March 16, 2023 at Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home Winterset Chapel, where family will greet friends one hour prior, beginning at 10:30 a.m. A lunch will be served at the First United Presbyterian Church following the Memorial Service. A Committal Service at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery will be held at 2:00 p.m. Memorials may be directed to the Winterset Law Enforcement. Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.caldwellparrish.com.