Mary Rhoda Homeier

Mary Rhoda Homeier, 89, of Newton, died Monday, Oct. 26, 2015, at Bright Kavanagh House in Des Moines. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2 at First United Methodist Church in Newton. Friends may call from 9 to 11 a.m. at the church and burial will be at 4 p.m. in Dayton Cemetery in Dayton.

The daughter of John Lazarus and Luvina Iowa (McGilvrey) Homeier, Mary was born in Des Moines June 21, 1926, and had one older sister, Sarah Louise Homeier Shostrom. She grew up on farms near Dayton and Burnside, graduating from Dayton High School in 1944. Mary finished a stenographic course at Capital City Commercial College in Des Moines before entering Drake University as an art major. She received her B.A. in art from Iowa State Teachers College (UNI), with minors in business and English.

After teaching art in Hampton, Mary chose the University of Iowa for her M.A. in art education in 1955. Her creative thesis was an oil painting and her written thesis, about publicizing school art programs, was published in a Midwest magazine for school art educators. While at Iowa, she studied with painter Stuart Edie and master printmaker Mauricio Lasansky. She then continued a 25 year career in elementary art teaching at Cedar Falls and Newton.

From 1977 until her retirement in 1991, Mary worked for the State Historical Society of Iowa in Des Moines. She then volunteered there and at the Des Moines Art Center for another 17 years. She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Society, the National Education Association, Newton Woman’s Club, Jasper County Historical Society and the Arts Connection of Jasper County.

Mary created and exhibited personal artwork for more than 60 years, and enjoyed participation in juried art exhibits and fairs, including showing her linoleum block prints, watercolors, drawings and oil paintings at the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa State Fair, Dairy Cattle Congress, Iowa Watercolor Society and Art in the Park. She was a signature member of the Iowa Watercolor Society and chaired a Christmas Gallery Art show at First Methodist Church for many years. Her reputation as a professional artist blossomed in her later years as she was invited to display her art at locations as varied as Plymouth Congregational Church in Des Moines, the Mason City and Newton Public Libraries, and local coffee shops in Newton and Grinnell.

Surviving are her nephew Keith Shostrom of Overland Park, Kan.; niece Karen (Mark) Shostrom Lehmann of Waverly; brother-in-law’s sister, Lois Kerr of Des Moines; and great-nephews Kirk Lehmann of Sioux City and Erik (Dana) Lehmann and children Owen and June Louise of Iowa City. Mary was preceded in death by her parents; her sister Sarah; and her brother-in-law Earl Shostrom.

Memorials may be directed to First United Methodist Church or to the Centre for Arts and Artists in Newton. Mary would want it to be stressed that the arts and creativity should play an important part of everyone’s life, and that creating art can make the world a better place.