Obituary of Judy Kay Rowles

Judy Kay (Nierling) Rowles, 55, died of cancer Wednesday morning, October 15, 2008, at her home in rural Oxford. Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, October 18, 2008, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Oxford by the Rev. Edmond Dunn. Graveside services will be held at 4pm Saturday at St. John the Baptist Cemetery in West Ridge Township, near Waukon, Iowa. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Gay & Ciha Funeral Home, 2720 Muscatine Avenue in Iowa City. A vigil service and rosary will conclude the visitation at 8pm. There will be visitation at the church on Saturday after 9:30 a.m., until services. Online condolences may be sent for her family through the web @ www.gayandciha.com. Judy’s family includes her husband, Tom; a brother, Don Nieling, of Chicago; a sister, Jan Nierling and Perry Paltz of Mason City; and a brother, Dan and Patty Nierling of Waterloo. She was preceded in death by her father in 1963 and her mother in January 2008. Judy was born Aug. 27, 1953, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the first child of Arthur and Rosella (Mellick) Nierling. She attended St. Ludmila Elementary School and graduated from La Salle High School in 1971. She attended the University of Northern Iowa for two years and graduated from the University of Iowa in 1978. She received her master’s degree from UI in 1988. Judy married Tom Rowles on June 28, 1986. They lived in Iowa City until 2002 when they moved to their farm near Oxford. She worked for the University of Iowa in various departments from 1988 to the present, including the UI Hospitals & Clinics, Division of Continuing Education and the Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center. She was diagnosed with cancer in early May. Judy loved life, going to blue grass festivals, tending to her cattle on the farm, and spending time with her family and those she always considered family! In lieu of flowers a memorial fund has been established in Judy’s name.