Irene Mae Campbell Albers Edgeton was born on February 8, 1921 at home to Charles Frank Campbell and Clara Maudlin Campbell in Gilman, Iowa. Funeral services are scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Saturday, November 18th, at the Smith Funeral Home in Grinnell with Pastor Kathy Roys, St. John's Lutheran in Grinnell, officiating. Pallbearers will be Ryan Albers, Justin O'Connor, Mark Bjelland, Mike Strawn, Chris Kuesel and Court Hembree. Burial will be in Prairie View Cemetery in Gilman. Memorial contributions may be directed St. John's Lutheran Church. She was preceded in death by her parents and all her siblings: Charles, Marie Peterson, Dick, Dale and Delbert; daughter, Madeline Matney and son-in-law, Francis Matney, her first husband, John Albers and her second husband, LaVerne Edgeton; and an infant great-granddaughter, Jill McMeekin. She is survived by her children John Albers (Linda), Russellville, Arkansas, Larry Albers (Debra) of Lake Forrest, CA, Dennis Albers (Toni) of Green Forest, Arkansas, Glenn Edgeton of Orlando, Florida and stepson, Dennis Edgeton of Eldora; and former step-daughter-in-law, Martha Edgeton of Marshalltown Also, 13 grandchildren Julie Bjelland (Mark) of Gilman, Doug Matney of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Barbara Hembree (Court) of Gilman, Carolyn Albers Lathrop of Leawood, Kansas, Becky Strawn (Mike) of Gilman, Larry Albers, Jr. of Wrightwood, CA, Jolene Geeo, of Russellville, Arkansas, Tony Albers (Bretta) of Wrightwood, CA and Laura Kuesel (Chris) of Gilman, Ryan Albers (Amanda) of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Austin Albers (Hailey) of Ponca, Arkansas, Jessica Waller of Killeen, Texas, Justin O'Connor of Aurora, Illinois; two step-grandchildren, Tina Humrichouse of Onawa, and Wayne Edgeton (Jean) of Rifle, CO; 21 great-grandchildren and 13 great-great-grandchildren; a sister in law, Loretta (Mrs. Delbert) Campbell and numerous nieces and nephews. She was a member of St. John's Lutheran Church in Grinnell, who have been very supportive to her over the years. Irene worked at Grinnell Jacket Factory, Glove Factory, United Methodist Church of Grinnell, and DeKalb. She volunteered her time with Meals on Wheels, driving handicapped individuals, and enjoyed helping a lot of friends. In her home, she provided upholstery, seamstress/tailor services, and haircuts for family and friends. She loved gardening, canning and working outside. She collected coins, stamps, dolls, spoons and sewing machines, steamer trunks, glassware, magazines…you could say Irene was passionate about collecting! Irene loved genealogy. She worked on the Tama County Genealogy Club for years even co-authoring a book of genealogy. She traveled for family genealogy research to Salt Lake City, Pennsylvania, and all over the state of Iowa. Her last genealogy project, which was completed in September 2017, was to replace her great grandfather's missing head stone at Fairview Cemetery near LeClair, Iowa. Irene was also very instrumental in initializing the Heritage Park historical area at Grinnell Fairgrounds. In her spare time, Irene loved to travel. It is believed she visited every state in the continental US, and the states of Alaska and Hawaii. She made trips to Great Britain, Switzerland and Norway, where her mother immigrated from at the age of sixteen. Her last trip abroad was to the Panama Canal. Everywhere she visited she was passionate about documenting her journeys through photographs and wrote detailed accounts of places and family gatherings. Irene loved her family and loved to always stay in touch. She also loved to see the moon and the morning and evening stars too. Irene loved to read obituaries for the details of people's lives. Hopefully this obituary is a little different…as she would have wanted! Irene would have wanted the family to thank many friends for their help and friendship over the past years but, in particular, Sue McDonough, Frank Moyer (recently deceased), Richard and Kay Clayton.