Irene Kline

Irene Julia Kuethe Kline died peacefully June 20, 2017 at Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. Memorial Services will be held Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at 12:00 pm at Hamilton's on Westown Parkway, 3601 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines.

Irene was born to Ida (Peters) and Herbert F. Kuethe on November 16, 1922 in Prairietown, (Madison County), IL, close to Bunker Hill. She grew up on the diversified family dairy farm, baking pies for threshing crews, gathering eggs from the hen house and every autumn helping butcher and process hogs and making gallons of apple butter for the family table.

In 1939, her father Herb bucked tradition of the time and sent his daughter to college. Irene spent two years at Blackburn College in Carlinville, IL. Like all students at Blackburn, Irene worked her way through school by becoming skilled in the campus bakery. She fondly remembered making doughnuts for student breakfasts in the wee hours of the morning. All the kitchen duty sparked her interest in a new field—experimental foods—so she transferred to Iowa State College in 1942, where she met her future husband, Ralph, in the foods lab there.

Before marriage in 1946, Irene worked in Mason City, IA, for Central States Dairy, where she was a quality control technician. She was tasked with determining whether or not milk sent to the dairy was suitable for fluid milk, or had appropriate butterfat content for butter making. She often told the story of VE day in May 1945, in Mason City, when the whole town went AWOL and celebrated in the streets. When Irene married Ralph, in July 1946, she joined him in Chicago, where he worked for Armour Star & Company as a food technologist. Irene embarked on a career in recipe development and consumer communications, for the Wheat Flour Institute in Chicago, and with Stop ‘n’ Shop, a specialty foods store in Chicago’s Loop. She and Ralph particularly enjoyed discovering the adventures of the metropolis, especially the many different ethnic neighborhoods and restaurants that offered new flavors, dishes and cuisine.

When daughters Lois Ann and Robin Lee arrived, in 1950 and 1952, Irene and Ralph moved to the south side suburb of Oak Lawn, IL, at 95th & Cicero; where Irene became active in League of Women Voters and, along with Ralph, was a founding member of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Oak Lawn. Irene pioneered a new career—in-store home economist—when she took a position with Hillman’s, an upscale grocery story in the Chicago area. She developed recipes and offered guidance, tips and advice to customers on cooking, especially of new and exotic items that Hillman’s offered. She tested new ideas on her family, friends and neighbors---such as cooking live lobsters and hosting a neighborhood clambake. Always with a keen interest in the world of food culture, Irene served up many flavors from the storied Melting Pot of Chicago’s neighborhoods at her table.

A move to Glen Ellyn, IL, in 1964, inspired Irene to earn her master’s degree in education, with study at NIU in DeKalb, 30 miles west. This led to very satisfying years as head of the foods/home economics department at Downers South High School, Downers Grove, IL. She led a team of foods teachers there, introduced international foods classes to her students, and broke tradition by teaching boys food preparation classes.

Ralph’s transfer to Scottsdale, AZ, where Armour built a new foods R&D lab, gave Irene invitation to dive into a wholly new culture. Both Ralph & Irene immersed themselves in the history of the American Southwest, studied Native American culture & arts, serving as docents at the Heard Museum in Phoenix for years, and knew the flora & fauna of the Southwest intimately as they explored widely their new state. Irene logged more than 5,000 hours of volunteer time at the Heard Museum and was honored with a handmade Hopi Katsina. Her lifelong passion for food culture continued in Phoenix: making homemade tamales, hosting a tortilla making workshop, grinding corn with Native peoples and utilizing the abundance of citrus growing throughout the city.

Husband Ralph’s death in 2005 motivated Irene to think about downsizing and moving back to the Midwest. In 2011, she relocated once again to Des Moines, and was a carefree resident of Scottish Rite Park for 6 years. At Scottish Rite she quickly made new friends, enjoyed the new environment and being just five minutes away from her daughter Robin Kline and son-in-law Bill Summers.

Irene is survived by her daughters Robin Kline (William Summers) of Des Moines and Lois Norman (Michael) of Sedona, AZ; her dear brother Melvin (Juanita) Kuethe of Littleton, CO, also survive, along with special nieces Susan Kuethe (Dave Stelck) of Calgary, AB, Sharon Hilst of Littleton, CO, Sandi Arthur (Bryan) of Los Angeles and nephew Steven Kuethe (Tracy) of Littleton, CO.

Memorial contributions may be directed to Connection Café, c/o St. John’s Lutheran Church, 600 6th Ave., Des Moines, IA 50309. Condolences may be expressed online at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com.

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