Eldoris Arleen Bunnell

Eldoris Bunnell, formerly of Belmond, Iowa, died peacefully on March 22, 2025, at Halcyon House, surrounded by family. Eldoris Arleen Kintzi was born on April 13, 1927, in St. James, Minnesota, to Eldor Kintzi and Elsie (Froehling) Kintzi. From a young age, she showed a gift and love for music, particularly the piano. She developed this talent with determination and passion, soon accompanying groups, vocalists, and instrumentalists. One was a trumpet-playing high school upperclassman named Don Bunnell. While attending college at St. Olaf, in Northfield, Minnesota, Eldoris, a music major, crossed paths again with Don who was enrolled on the G.I. Bill after serving in the U.S. Navy during WWII. They soon became a couple and married on August 6, 1950. They made their home in Belmond, Iowa, where Eldoris had taken a K-12 vocal music position after graduating in 1949. Eldoris taught for five years before starting a family with Don. They raised three daughters: Patricia, Bobbi, and Lori. The kitchen table was the heart of the family home, where the family gathered to eat her great food, share stories, adventures, misadventures, and laughter. Eldoris began teaching music again in 1968, focusing on K-6 vocal music. She put on multiple programs each year and was awarded accolades for her 5-6 select choir. She also accompanied high school concerts, musicals, contests, and All State quartets, continuing this for years even after her retirement in 1976. As well as teaching music, Eldoris was deeply involved with music at Trinity Lutheran Church for seventy years, playing the organ, directing choir, and accompanying soloists during regular services and countless weddings and funerals. After Don’s sudden death in 1984, Eldoris, with courage and determination, began doing other things she loved in new ways. A talented cook, she established a tea room in her home, serving groups once or twice a month. She also traveled to several European countries, Florida, Arizona, and regularly visited Door County, Wisconsin. Her special role as a devoted grandmother began in 1990 with the birth of Sara Wiley, followed by Sam Wiley in 1992, and Anna Wiley in 1997. Her great-granddaughter, Elsie, Chorpening, named after Eldoris’s mother, was born in 2020, followed by Amelia Chorpening in 2023. Eldoris’s long life was a mosaic of devotion, love and loss, determination, courage, grace, and resilience. She was preceded in death by her husband, Don, her parents, Elsie and Eldor Kintzi, her brother and sister-in-law, Gerry and Jo Kintzi, and sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Bonnie and Dick Bolin. Left to cherish her memory are her daughters and husbands, Pat Bunnell Kelley (Jerry) of Indianola, IA; Bobbi Bunnell Senske (Jim) of Eden Prairie, MN; Lori Bunnell Wiley (Greg) of Washington, IA; grandchildren, Sam Wiley of Iowa City; Sara Chorpening (Tracy); Anna Wiley; great-grandchildren, Elsie Chorpening and Amelia Chorpening, all of Cedar Falls, IA. Funeral services will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Belmond, Iowa, on April 11 at 11:00 AM. The public is welcome to meet with family, prior to the service, beginning at 10:00 AM at the Trinity reception hall. Friends and family are invited to attend a luncheon at Trinity directly following the service. In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established to Trinity Lutheran’s music fund. Ewing Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

Eldoris Arleen Bunnell

April 13, 1927 - March 22, 2025