Anna E. (Newkirk) Kistenfeger, 86, of Ottawa, passed away on Wednesday, April 27, 2022 at the OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington.
Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:00 a.m. Monday, May 2, 2022 at St. Columba Church in Ottawa with Deacon John Murphy officiating. Visitation will be from 9 to 10:50 a.m. at the church. Burial will be at Oakwood Memorial Park following the services. Arrangements have been entrusted to the Mueller Funeral Home in Ottawa.
Anna was the daughter of Everett & Lillian (Husted) Newkirk, born and raised in Shiloh, New Jersey. She moved to Ottawa in 1963. She was a 1968 graduate of St. Mary’s School of Nursing, LaSalle. She married Walter A. Kistenfeger, Sr. on August 27, 1971. She was a homemaker and a Licensed Practical Nurse.
Anna was a member of St. Columba Parish, Ottawa where she was a past choir member. She met with a small group of friends of St. Columba Parish for their Monday Night Prayer Group for 25 years.
She worked as an LPN at Community Hospital of Ottawa, St. Mary’s Hospital, Streator and Pleasant View Lutheran Home, Ottawa. Following retirement, her gift of nursing and devotion led to private duty nursing with families and hospice patients. Her devotion to nurturing family members losing their loved ones to life-threatening sickness was one of her gifts as a nurse; always giving back to others.
Anna has been a seamstress all her life sewing and tailoring clothes, sharing her dedicated skills teaching others to sew from beginners to quilting. She was an active quilting instructor for on-board cruise classes throughout Caribbean and Alaskan cruises. She attended numerous national quilting classes and shows and won local, state and national awards on her sewn quilts. Her awards were numerous; First Place, Best of Show, Viewer’s Choice, Vendors Choice, Honorable Mention, and Judges Choice. Anna has sewn hundreds of quilts throughout her lifetime for family and friends as well as numerous donations to war veterans, hospital lap quilts, and cancer patient quilts. She was a member of the Kimble Thimble Quilt Guild of Marseilles and Quilting Sisters of Leesburg, FL. Anna was a member of LaSalle County Extension No-Township Unit and was ‘LaSalle County Homemaker of the Year’ in 1985.
Anna was a devoted team member in the Illinois Valley Cursillo in Christian Ministry, serving as a sponsor and Rectora Team Leader. Anna and Walter were passionate in the Cursillo Prison Ministry at the Sheridan Prison, Sheridan. Anna was Past Worthy Matron of the Order of Eastern Star and a steward of many Masonic organizations.
Anna and Walter were Snowbirds to Summerfield, FL every winter since 1990.
Anna is survived by her children, Eugene Kistenfeger of Ottawa, Sandra (William) Nagel of Oglesby, Robert (Joetta) Kistenfeger of Mt. Zion, David (Kerry) Kistenfeger of Ottawa, Gary (Tracy) Kistenfeger of Ottawa, and Mary Kistenfeger of Ottawa; 13 grandchildren, Thomas Nagel of Scottsdale, AZ, Theodore Nagel of Fort Worth, TX, Adrianne Johnson of Ames, IA, Zachary Kistenfeger of Dalton City, Ryan Kistenfeger of Memphis, TN, Jayson Kistenfeger of Petersburg, Kelsey Kistenfeger-Twohey and Cole Kistenfeger both of Ottawa, Kara Kistenfeger and Quinn Kistenfeger both of Ottawa, and Courtney Just, Colby Kistenfeger, and Cami Kistenfeger of Assumption; and 16 great-grandchildren.
Anna was preceded in death by her husband, Walter on March 27, 2021; two sons, C. Thomas Blackmon and Walter A. Kistenfeger, Jr.; her parents, Everett & Lillian Newkirk; and both of her siblings.
She was laid to rest in the Garden of Prayer.
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