Darlene Mae Arnold

Darlene Mae Arnold was born in Avoca, Iowa on Thursday the 19th of May 1938 to Harvey and Pearl Irene (Cunningham) Nelsen.  She was welcomed home to a farm south of Shelby in Pleasant Township of Pottawattamie County, the baby sister to older brothers, Melvin and Norman, now both deceased. 
Darlene shared baptism with her brothers on Sunday the 26th of April 1942 at Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Shelby.  By the time she reached school age, the family had moved onto a farm east of Shelby.  She and her brothers attended Shelby-Tennent School where she graduated with the class of 1957.  
Darlene married Wayne Edward Arnold of rural Harlan, Iowa on Sunday evening the 8th of September 1957.  They moved to Ames, Iowa where Wayne was already a student at Iowa State College. While there, she and Wayne welcomed their first child into their lives, Pamela Kay (Harmsen).  Together, after Wayne’s college graduation, they moved onto the Arnold family farm east of Harlan.  There they welcomed the birth of two more children, Brian Edward (JoAnne Schimerowski) of Bluffton, Ohio; and Penny Sue (Bushaw).
After a few years Darlene and Wayne, together with Wayne’s parents, Frank and Zee, purchased one half of the 480 acre property that they had been renting from Zee’s brother, Lyle D. Taylor and began what became a 40 year career in livestock farming.
In the early years of farming, Wayne served as a member of the Iowa State University Shelby County Extension Council where he learned about the opportunity to host farm trainees from countries around the world.  He delighted in teaching young men and women about best practices of beef and hog production.  Darlene was hostess for trainees for 28 years.  She continued to receive letters and other communications from some of the trainees, even with occasional visits from around the world, the latest being a visit from Kiyotaka Endo of Japan in the fall of 2024.  
As a farmwife, Darlene did a little bit of everything—well except drive farm equipment. She helped with bookkeeping, correspondence, cooking meals for as many as four, six or eight workers during harvest seasons in addition to cooking for one to three trainees year around, nurtured piglets in the farrowing house, and attempted to keep up with the chores of a seven bedroom farmhouse.  She hosted neighborhood women’s gatherings, especially the quilting ladies since it took a rather large dedicated room for this activity and the old Westrope house certainly had the space.
One of the major challenges of Darlene’s life was experiencing the death of both of her daughters who each battled breast cancer.  After their deaths, she and Wayne in 2007 sold the last of the farm property and relocated to Ohio to be closer to Brian and some of the grandchildren.  She learned to navigate the internet so that she could keep up with folks from Iowa through the Harlan Newspapers online.
She enjoyed speaking of her family to her friends and guests.  She kept photos of her children and grandchildren prominently displayed: grandchildren: Brian Jurczik-Arnold, Jeanine (Arnold) Lewis, Jesse Arnold, Lance Bushaw, and Shane Bushaw; and eleven great grandchildren.  She is also survived by sister-in-law Sandy Nelsen of Harlan.  She faithfully kept in touch with as many nieces, nephews, and cousins as she could from a distance.
She was ready—aware that dementia was slowly taking her away from family, friends, and life in general.  Darlene died peacefully on Thursday the 8th of January 2026, aged 87 years, 7 months, 2 weeks and 6 days at the Betty House convalescent care facility in Bluffton, Ohio—right across the street from where she spent the last few years in a senior apartment. 
Her immediate family welcomes extended family and life long friends and neighbors to share in a celebration of life gathering for “Tea” and “Æbleskivers” to be held at 2 p.m. on the 12th of July at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1700 19th Street, Harlan.  Please, the family requests no flowers or plants—it’s difficult to arrange for such items to be transported to the great distances from which immediate family are coming.  In lieu of live memorial gifts, please consider a charity of your choice—Darlene tithed to her church and was generous in her giving to various charities.