Lilah (Doege) Hobbs

Lilah (Doege) Hobbs, 76, of Crystal Lake passed away on Thursday, January 8, 2015.

Funeral services for Lilah Hobbs will be held on Friday, January 16, 2015 at 10:30 AM at, the Forest City United Methodist Church, 305 South Clark Street in Forest City with Pastor Chuck Layton officiating. Burial will take place at Crystal Township Cemetery at 1:30 PM.

Visitation will be held Thursday, January 15, 2015 from 4:00-7:00 PM at Crystal Lake United Methodist Church, 215 South Summit Avenue in Crystal Lake, and will continue one hour prior to the services at the Forest City United Methodist Church on Friday.

Lilah Helena Christine Doege was born Nov. 22, 1938 in Buffalo Center, Iowa to Herbert and Anna (Boltes) Doege. She graduated from Woden High School in 1956 and was a devoted Woden Cardinal. In 1956, she was hired by Ed Boyken to be a bank teller at Titonka Savings Bank where she was employed for 48 years and worked her way up to become a bank officer.

Lilah married James Hobbs in the Crystal Lake United Methodist Parsonage on January 10, 1958. They had two children, Brian James Hobbs and Lisa Ann Hobbs.

Lilah and James lived on James’ family farm southwest of Crystal Lake for most of her life. Living in the country allowed her to partake in many things she grew to love: gardening, field work, and walking the Hobbs’ family dogs.

She was a beloved and hard-working staff member at TSB throughout her 48 years of service. She loved her job, the atmosphere, the people she worked with and the volunteer opportunities that came out of it.

Lilah’s church family at the United Methodist Church in Crystal Lake was also extremely important to her. She was a member of many committees in support of her church. Religion was something she never took lightly. Lilah was baptized at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Woden on December 18, 1938 and was confirmed on April 6, 1952. She was an advocate of practicing what she preached, and this showed by how she taught her beliefs in her household.

One of Lilah’s special qualities was her love and appreciation for all the people surrounding her. She never complained about how she was feeling or things that were going wrong in her life, because she was too busy trying to help the people around her and impact their lives in a positive way. This quality brought her to be a known friend of her community and surrounding communities.

Most importantly, Lilah’s family stood above everything. It was not uncommon to find a bunch of relatives at her house having coffee and chatting for a few hours. She kept in touch with all of her out of town relatives through email, phone calls and most recently, Facebook. Her daughter, Lisa, and she would talk on the phone nearly every other day and she would email her grandchildren consistently to check up on them. She never hesitated to spoil her grandchildren and always seemed to go the extra mile and outdo herself. If her grandchildren asked for a dozen cookies, she’d bake four dozen and wouldn’t let them be turned down.

Lilah is survived by her husband James Hobbs; her two children, Brian (Deanne) Hobbs of Buffalo Center and Lisa Hobbs of Aurora, Colorado; four grandchildren Krista (Barry) Troe, Kaylan Hobbs, Kory Hobbs, and Kade Hobbs; her brother Lyle (Janice) Doege of Woden, Iowa; sisters-in-law Marge Hobbs and Jerry Hobbs of Britt, Iowa; Calvin and Gerry Hansmeier of Forest City, and cousins, nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents Herbert and Anna Doege; her in-laws, Alvina and Earl Hobbs; brothers-in-law, Raymond Hobbs, Clyde Hobbs, Gene Krominga, and sister-in-law, Dorothy Krominga

Lilah’s family would like to express sincere gratitude to all those who helped through this time of trouble, and to all the people who had even the smallest impact on her life.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be given to the North Iowa Humane Society, which Lilah supported in honor of her love for animals.