Anita M. Spenler

Anita M. Spenler

Iowa City

Anita M. Spenler, 89, longtime resident in Iowa City died Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, at the Briarwood Health Center in Iowa City.

Funeral services will be held at noon Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, at Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City, with burial to follow at Memory Gardens Cemetery. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. till service time on Monday at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers memorial donations can be made in Anita’s memory to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons (www.michaeljfox.org). To share a memory or condolence with her family, please visit Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service website at ww.gayandciha.com.

Anita Marcelle Kennel was born Jan. 15, 1934, in Shickley, Neb. She was united in marriage to Leonard “Len” Spenler at the Danforth Chapel in Iowa City on Aug. 19, 1953. The couple owned and operated Spenler Tire for many years where her official title was bookkeeper, but she was that smiling face and more the staff and customers all looked for stopping at the station. She also volunteered at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for many years, all of this in addition to raising her family, and being the “community mom”! She and Len enjoyed spending time in Orange Beach, Ala., golfing together and she her numerous bridge clubs over the years.

Anita’s family includes her children, Barbara Malek (John), Steve Spenler (Laurie), Larry Spenler, and Loren Spenler (Kathy); nine grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, and her siblings, Norman Kennel, Russel Kennel, Elaine Yoder, Ila Howe and Shirley Knippa.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Lenard, her mother, Barbara Kennel, one sister, Jeanette Barber, and two brothers, Darrell and Eugene Kennel.