Miss Nellie Langstraat, age 91, formerly of Newkirk and Des Moines, passed away on Saturday, November 21, 2009, at the Prairie View Nursing Home in Sanborn.

There will be a funeral service on Tuesday, November 24, at 1:30pm, at the Oolman Funeral Home in Orange City. The Rev. David Powers will officiate. Interment will follow at the Newkirk Cemetery. Visitation with the family present will be the hour before the service on Tuesday at the funeral home.

Nellie was born on November 10, 1918, in rural Sheldon, the daughter of Henry P. and Anna Marie (Scholten) Langstraat. She was baptized in the Newkirk Reformed Church on January 17, 1919. She was raised on the family farm north of Newkirk, where she attended a country school and the church's Sunday school. Later, she moved to Sheldon with her parents.

As a deaf woman, she moved to Des Moines to attend a rehabilitation training center. During her first year there, she met Geraldine Armel, who was also deaf. They started a friendship which lasted the rest of their lives.

On April 12, 1956, Nellie became employed at the Lindfelt Glove Factory in Des Moines, which later changed to the Champion Glove Factory. She sewed many types of gloves, but specialized in stitching batters' gloves. She retired on November 1, 1983, after 27 years of service.

She also became a member of the Calvary Lutheran Church for the Deaf in Des Moines, where she faithfully worshipped. She enjoyed playing card games, such as Flinch and Hearts, with other church members and her brothers and sisters. She also liked sewing and making crafts.

Due to declining health, Nell and “Geri” moved to the Prairie View Manor in Sanborn in October of this year. They transferred to the nursing home there in November.

Survivors include a sister, Anna Rensink, of Sheldon; a brother, Herman Langstraat, of Orange City; a sister-in-law, Alice Langstraat, of Orange City; several nephews and nieces, and her dear friend, Geraldine.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a brother and his wife, Peter and Tracie Langstraat; a brother-in-law, Bernie (Anna) Rensink; two sisters-in-law, Grace and Winifred (Herman) Langstraat; two sisters and their husbands, Johanna and Lawrence Den Hartog and Harriet and Elmer Zorgdrager; and a brother, Lester “Ted” (Alice) Langstraat.

Memorials may be directed to the Calvary Lutheran Church for the Deaf.