My Grandma Callaway

R. Arlene Callaway

8/28/25 - 8/9/09

R. Arlene Callaway, 83, of Whitten, died Sunday evening, August 9th, at the Oakview Nursing Home in Conrad. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, August 13th, at the Whitten Community Church with Pastor Jim Hartman officiating. She will be laid to rest in the Benson Cemetery at Whitten. Visitation will be held from 5-7:00 p.m. Wednesday at the Mitchell Family Funeral home in Marshalltown. A memorial fund is being established. For condolences, please visit www.mitchellfh.com. Ph 641-844-1234. Born on August 28th, 1925, in rural Whitten, Iowa, she was one of three daughters born to Henry and Charity Ruth (Sisson) Koch. She attended the Felix #6 rural school and graduated from the Whitten Consolidated High School in 1942. On December 29th, 1945, in a double ceremony with her sister, she was married to Gene McKeehan. To this union, one son – Dennis- was born. Mr. McKeehan died unexpectedly at a young age. On New Year’s Day of 1950, at her sister’s home west of Whitten, she married Ray Callaway. They made their home near Whitten all of their married lives. Mrs. Callaway was employed at Ford-Hopkins in Marshalltown following graduation, the Tallcorn, a canning factory in Grundy Center, sorted seed corn, worked at Mis-Steak House in Whitten and retired from wallpapering and painting. She treasured her family and attended the Whitten Community Church, was a member of the Eldora Bowling Hall of Fame, the Union OES, Kensington Club, Benson Cemetery Society, Whitten Alumni, and supported many community needs such as the Whitten Fire Department and the Union Ambulance. Last year (2008), she served as a co-grand marshal for the Whitten Days Parade. Arlene also was a great cook, loved to dance and scrapbook and garden. Left to cherish her memory is her three sons: Dennis and Kevin (Jo) of Whitten, Jim (Tammy) of rural Conrad, eight grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren, her sister Clara Ann Hauser of Conrad and nieces and nephews. In death she has rejoined her parents, husbands, sister Joyce (Robert) Wilson and brother-in-law Dale Hauser.