Alice M. Pope

MASON CITY Alice Marie Pope, age 102, of Mason City, died Saturday, February 13, 2010, at Mercy Medical Center North Iowa. Funeral services will be at 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Avenue with Pastor Will Hunsaker the of Open Bible Church, Clear Lake officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service. Interment will be at Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to the Alice Pope memorial fund, in care of the family.

Alice was born July 29, 1907, in Green City, Missouri, the daughter of Calvert and Ina (Pratt) Sears. Her family moved to Iowa when she was age 7. She attended Cerro Gordo County Schools and also attended one year at the Open Bible College in Des Moines, IA. She married Rev. Russell E. Pope on January 1, 1927 in Swaledale, IA. Over the years, her husband was a pastor in Des Moines in 1936; Swea City, IA in 1937; Mason City from 1938 1945; Waterloo, IA from 1945 1948; Casper, WY from 1948 1955; Olean, N.Y. from 1955 1956; Jefferson, IA from 1957 1970; Swea City from 1970 1973; and then moved to Clear Lake, where they retired. Alice was a member of the Open Bible Church in Clear Lake. She enjoyed praying, reading her Bible, having scriptures and her late husbands poems read to her, and listening to Gaither music. She also enjoyed gardening, pulling quack grass, embroidery, crossword puzzles, and watching horse races, especially the Kentucky Derby. Alice was a prayer warrior.

Alice is survived by three sons: Wayne Pope and wife June of Mason City, Rev. Dr. R. Harold Pope and wife Joan of Bettendorf, IA, Paul Pope and wife Karen of Jefferson, IA; two daughters: Rosalie Goff of Glenrock, WY and Mary Ann Freeman and husband Rev. Dr. John of Mansfield, OH.; 12 grandchildren; 22 great grandchildren; 6 great great grandchildren; one brother: Warren Sears of Clear Lake.


She was preceded in death by her husband in 1993, her parents; one daughter: Lois Pope; one brother: Theodore Sears; three sisters: Irene Stockberger, Elizabeth Pope, and Lena Kline; three grandchildren: Sharon McElwee, Linda and Marcia Pope; and two great grandchildren: Amy Hefty and Murphy Taute.