Sondra Kay (Hurst) Waltz

Sondra Kay (Hurst) Waltz, 86 of Norwalk, died April 22, 2025 at the Norwalk Nursing and Rehab Center.

Sondra was born in Winterset, Iowa on March 23, 1939, the cherished daughter of Raymond and Hester (Griffith) Hurst. She was united in marriage to James Waltz on June 11, 1961. She is the loving mother of Pamela and Bradley.

She grew up in Winterset and graduated from Winterset High School in 1957. She received her Bachelor of Science in Child Development from Iowa State University and received her Masters of Science in Elementary Curriculum and Instruction from Drake University.

Sondra started her teaching career in Story City, Iowa, teaching fifth grade science. She went on to teach in Belle Plaine and Cedar Rapids where she taught social studies and language art. In 1967, Sondra and her family moved to Norwalk where she began teaching sixth grade science. She continued teaching in Norwalk until her retirement. Sondra loved teaching science and was an award winning teacher. In addition to teaching, Sondra developed and published teaching materials for different curriculums in both science and social studies. This included outlined maps of the world, with instructional and teaching suggestions. She had crossword puzzles of the world and instructional devices for intermediate social studies and special education teachers.

She was published numerous times in science journals about her interesting classroom activities. She developed programs to study the effects of milk, the human body, conservation, underwater and space experiences, wildlife up close, and many more.

She made a machine that would smoke/puff the cigarette and the smoke and nicotine was trapped on cotton inside the machine. The students would extract the nicotine with syringes and inject into white mice. Students would study the development differences between “smoking” mice and “non-smoking” mice. She made a huge bubble out of plastic where the students would have class and watch movies to experience what it is like to be in space or under the sea. Movies would be projected on the wall of the bubbles for this stimulation. The bubble was 16’ x 16’ and could hold 43 students per viewing.

Sondra worked with the Dairy Council and the students studied milk. The students would study the development differences of the two rats. They also made butter from fresh milk and studied the parts of milk. In studying the human body, she would go to the slaughter house and get cow organs such as lungs, heart and eyes for the students to dissect. The students got the opportunity to see all the parts of these organs that are very similar to our own organs.

Sondra was always interested in conservation and wildlife. Her students knew of her love of animals and would frequently bring her a wide variety of baby animals or injured animals to raise, so she became a registered wildlife rehabilitator and raised hundreds of squirrels, opossum, skunks, and birds over the years. She hated seeing dead animals on the road and after a student brought her a dead pigeon she decided to try taxidermy to share more wildlife with her students. She found a teacher at Winterset that did taxidermy and she worked for many months taking lessons from him. After she completed her lessons and found more dead animals on the road which she couldn’t pass up, she applied for and received a license from the government to preserve protected species. She displayed magnificent birds of prey in flight from her classroom ceiling. She had numerous mammals around her room. This allowed her students to get up close and personal with wildlife and have a new appreciation of it.

She was selected to be a member of the Iowa State Education Instructional Cadre. As a part of the Cadre, she evaluated the needs of science teachers in the state. Once the needs were identified, she prepared programs to share with teachers. She traveled around the state to share the program with fellow science teachers.

Sondra received several awards and recognition from the local Norwalk Professional Education Association to the National Science Teachers Association. Twice she was the Regional Teacher Division Winner of the Iowa Soil Conservation Achievement Award. She was recognized at the state level by the Iowa Academy of Science’s Excellence in Science teaching in the area of Elementary Science and at the national level by the National Science Teachers Association with the Exemplary Elementary Science Teaching Award from Council for Elementary Science. When the Science Center was being built in Des Moines, her students participated in the sale of pens. Her students sold so many pens that a group had the opportunity to appear on television with Bill Riley. Sondra volunteered at the science center numerous times by providing mounted animals or sharing her knowledge.

Sondra’s classroom was always a fascinating place to visit. She had live animals including birds, reptiles and mammals. It depended on which years of her long career at Norwalk you visited, you might see a myna bird, doves or finches. She had guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, or chinchillas. She had a tegu lizard for a long time and students loved when she fed him eggs; a real treat for the lizard and the students. Sondra’s favorite time of year was spring. She loved to go mushroom hunting. She kept track of the earliest date and latest date that mushrooms were found. She had favorite hunting locations and mushroom hunting friends. She didn’t just love hunting, she loved seeing all the new growth in the woods. Sondra became a favorite of many hunters for preserving their trophy. She started doing taxidermy as a part time job which quickly grew into a full time one. She had many animals that she was very proud of preserving including a white deer, full mount bear and a very large elk that was nearly too large to get out of the basement. She mounted all of grandchildren’s first fish. She trained one of her grandsons to be a taxidermist. She continued to do taxidermy into her 70s.

She loved sharing science and the great outdoors with her four grandchildren, Nathan, Lucas and Matthew Waltz and Abigail Ellis. The grandchildren have fond memories of mushroom hunting, making giant bubble wands, growing crystal gardens, going to the fair, and spending holidays together. Sondra loved the state fair. She was very active in Girl Scouts and 4H. Once she was a 4H queen at the fair. Sondra and Jim would usually go to the fair multiple times a season. It was always a family outing to go to the fair to see the animals, tractors and interesting exhibits. This tradition continues with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She’ll be joining her parents, Raymond and Hester Hurst; brother, James; and son-in-law, David Ellis in heaven. Sondra will be missed by the ones she leaves behind, her husband, James; daughter, Pamela Ellis; son, Bradley (Ronda) Waltz; grandchildren, Nathan (Sabrina) Waltz, Lucas (Alison) Waltz, Matthew (Shantelle) Waltz, and Abigail (Chris) Stricker; and 5 great-grandchildren, Colton, Karsyn, Lydia, Lauren, and Christopher Waltz.

A visitation will be held from 5:00 pm to 7:00 p.m., Thursday, May 1, 2025, at Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home, Winterset Chapel. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Friday, May 2, at the funeral home, with interment to follow at the Winterset Cemetery. A luncheon will follow services at the American Legion Hall in Winterset. Memorials are suggested to the family for a future designation.