Tribute

Iva A. Thrall passed away peacefully at the Odessa Memorial Healthcare Nursing Home on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the age of 91. She was born on March 24, 1921 to Phillip and Annette Pfeifer. She was the fourth of 12 children. She attended the White Hall School north of Wilson Creek for one year and then went to the Marlin School for the next 11 years.

Being from such a large family, Iva learned household duties at a young age. It was her responsibility to help with the baking each Saturday, especially homemade breads and rolls. She claimed she was also a “tomboy,” though, and loved to climb the rafters in the barn and trees in the yard.

Iva married R.D. Thrall on November 9, 1941. They had a daughter, Bonnie and a son, Harlan. Iva now boasts of five grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. R.D. and Iva farmed the Thrall farm north of Marlin for 33 years before retiring and relocating to Marlin Hites in 1974. She was blessed with a marriage of 57 years before R.D. passed away in 1999.

Iva’s hobbies included cooking, baking, gardening and travel. Her favorite pastime, though, was to read a cookbook. She had a collection of over 300! She was well known for her award-winning cakes, especially her homemade chocolate angel food, her crème de menthe and her pineapple mandarin orange cakes.

She was a member of Marlin Presbyterian Church. She was very social and was always interested in what was going on with the kids and grandchildren. Iva is survived by her daughter Bonnie Icenogle of Spokane, son Harlan (Donna) Thrall of Marlin, grandkids J.R. Gifford (Nicole) of Seattle, Tiffani Thew (Tyler) of Gardnerville, Nev., Troy Thrall (Jerry Gardner) of Seattle, J.T. Thrall (Jenni) of Spokane and Ivonne Ropkins of Vancouver, Wash., as well as 12 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her brothers Bud Pfeifer of Ellensburg, Cecil Pfeifer of Wilson Creek, Dale (Marion) Pfeifer of Yakima, Punch (Sharon) Pfeifer of Odessa and Keith (Judy) Pfeifer of Yakima, as well as sisters Lorene (Bob) Arbuckle of Ephrata, Lois Starkel of Marlin and Donna Rainey of Moses Lake.

She was preceded in death by her husband R.D. Thrall and her sisters Lenora Wraspir and Gladys Nelson and brother Howard Pfeifer.

A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 11 a.m. at the Heritage Church in Odessa with Megan Helton officiating. Mrs. Thrall will lie-in-state at Strate Funeral Home in Davenport on Friday, April 20, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to the Shriners Hospital or to the charity of the donor's choice.

To sign the online guestbook, visit http://www.stratefuneralhome.com. Strate Funeral Home, Davenport, is caring for the family.