Frances FloElla Dobson

April 26, 1927 - February 5, 2018

Flo Dobson Gowrie, Iowa Date of Death: February 5, 2018 Frances, known as Flo, was born on April 26, 1927 in Forbes, Missouri to Charles Austin Cleland and Frances Grethel (Sipes) Cleland. She grew up in Batavia, Illinois where she attended District 101 Schools, graduating in June 1945. She attended IBM Electric Accounting School and worked for Barber Greene in Aurora, Illinois until she moved to Beaver, Iowa with her family. She then worked as a secretary to the Superintendent of Schools in Grand Junction, Iowa. Flo married Wayne Lee Dobson on October 29, 1948. The couple made their home in Beaver, Iowa. In 1953, they moved to Gowrie, Iowa where they built a home and raised their family. During Wayne’s employment with Story Construction, they bought and moved a trailer home to several communities including Grinnell, Adel and Okoboji to be closer to his projects but Gowrie always remained home. The trailer was eventually moved to a permanent location on East Okoboji where Flo and Wayne enjoyed retirement, fishing, and family visits. Flo was known in the community for her cooking skills and baked countless dozens of cinnamon rolls, cookies, loaves of bread, pies and other goods. She canned chicken for later use in homemade chicken and noodles, always a family favorite. While her children were still home, she fed many of their friends as well as East Greene High School marching band members (including her nieces and nephew) after the annual Gowrie parade on the 4th of July. Biscuits and gravy were a family favorite with all generations of her family and several of her grandchildren wrote stories about her pie baking skills for school. In later years her bread machine was used regularly to turn out rye and many other types of bread. Flo also enjoyed sewing, embroidery, quilting and crocheting and blessed her family and many friends with handmade gifts. She loved to shop the sales for fabric, clothing and groceries. She especially enjoyed watching hummingbirds and also had a fondness for cardinals. She was a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Lanyon. Flo passed away on February 5, 2018 at the Pearl Valley Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Gowrie. She was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Alice Hartman; and brothers, Shirley Cleland and Daniel Cleland. She was survived by her husband, Wayne Dobson of Gowrie Iowa; son, Mike Dobson of Konawa, Oklahoma; daughter, Jodi (Randy) Kopecky; son, Russ (Brenda) Dobson of Elkhart, Iowa; and son, Bart (Susan) Dobson of Ames, Iowa; eight grandchildren; two step-granddaughters; 10 great-grandchildren; three step-great grandsons; a sister, Dorothy Greer of Andersonville, South Carolina; a brother, Charles Cleland of Buffalo, Missouri; and many nieces and nephews. Memorials are suggested to the Gowrie Rescue Unit First Responders. Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home, Jefferson 515-386-2171