Eldon Meeks

Eldon Meeks

Anamosa

Eldon Meeks, 98, of Anamosa, died Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, at UnityPoint Jones Regional Medical Center, Anamosa.

Celebration of Life services will take place at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 29, at Goettsch Funeral Home, Anamosa. The Rev. Kathryn Newhall will officiate. Burial will be in Antioch Cemetery, rural Anamosa. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 28, at the funeral home. Please visit goettchonline.com to share your thoughts, memories and condolences with Eldon’s family.

Eldon Joe Meeks was born Aug. 23, 1925, in rural Anamosa, the son of DeWitt and Ina (Byerly) Meeks. Growing up in the Anamosa area, Eldon worked on the Byerly Family’s dairy farm. He attended the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs, leaving however to begin working as a Linotype Operator at the Anamosa Journal Eureka. After many years he went to work at Lawrence Press in Cedar Rapids. When Lawrence Press shut down, he started working for Tim Fay at Route 3 Press, Anamosa. He married Joanne Chihak on Oct. 22, 1966, in Elma, Iowa. The couple made their home in Anamosa since that time. She died in 2014. At the age of 90, Eldon earned his honorary diploma from the School for the Deaf and in 2022 was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.

Eldon enjoyed traveling throughout the United States, photography and having his own dark room. He would often help others as an electrician with various jobs in the area, a skill he enjoyed and began at the age of nine when he wired a bulb so he could see when he woke up early in the morning. He had a genuine love of animals and had many pets over the years.

He is remembered by his children, John (Nancy) Meeks and Lisa (C.J.) Patnode, all of Anamosa; grandchildren, Alicia and Brice; step-grandchildren, Stephanie Cox and Lindsay Robbins; three nephews, Danny, Darryl and Dallas Reinick, all of Milwaukee, Wis.; and last, but not least, his beloved cat Chloe.

In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his parents and sisters and brothers-in-law, Mildred and Dr. Gerald Brown and Pauline and Wallace Reinick.

The family would like to thank the staff of Jones Regional Medical Center and Eldon’s private nurse Dixie Rickels, for the wonderful care they provided.

Memorials may be directed to the Animal Welfare League, Monticello; or to Jones Regional Medical Center.