Mrs. DeKock was born Feb. 16, 1950, the second of three children of Ruth Ellene and Pete Garatoni of Lehigh, Iowa, and named for her parents' sisters, Anita Louise.

She began school in Lehigh and from second grade went to Fort Dodge public schools, Hawley Elementary, North Junior High and Fort Dodge High. Her growing up life revolved around church, school, Scouts, and family. She was named the best debater in the state of Iowa as a high school junior before graduating in 1968.

She attended Abilene Christian College in Abilene, Texas, for three years but graduated from the University of Iowa in 1972 with a degree in elementary education. She had begun dating Bob DeKock at Lake Okoboji during a college summer vacation, and the two married July 29, 1972.

They moved to Muscatine where Bob started out with Muscatine Legal Services and she taught school.

After Pete was born in 1978 and Katie in 1980 she worked part-time for the Stanley Foundation, editing for Max Stanley and helping to plan and record the international relations conferences the Foundation sponsored. She returned to teaching in 1990 to the great advantage of hundreds of Muscatine fourth and fifth graders. In retirement she continued to use her education skills, volunteering at a bi-lingual nursery school and teaching writing to homeless women.

She was a woman of serious spirituality and intellectual curiosity all her life. She was baptized into the church of Christ as a young teen, served First Christian in Muscatine as an elder, and also read serious theology and investigated Native American and Buddhist spiritual traditions. This spiritual grounding made her a valued confidant and counselor to many friends.

She was interested in a variety of things and what she found interesting she pursued with wholehearted energy. She was passionate about nature and politics and books and social justice, and also cooking and golf and opera and pitch.

She loved travel with friends and family to Big Ten football games, and special places all over the country and abroad. Whatever she loved she shared and enriched all who knew her with her enthusiasm for life in general.

The heart of Nita's own life was her family. She was a devoted granddaughter, daughter-in-law, and daughter. She and Bob especially supported her father in his long years alone after the death of her mother. She was an anchor of strength and wisdom for her husband Bob. She gave her all to her children, Pete and Katie, through every stage of their lives, their biggest fan in success and their gentlest comfort in disappointment. She welcomed their spouses, Jen and Greg, into a warm and close extended family. She found absolute delight in Katie and Greg's daughter, Ellie Garatoni, born in 2008; and their twin daughters born in June, Lily Katherine and Lucy Anita, were the brightest spots in her last months.

She is also survived by her older sister, younger brother, Bob's brother and sister, and all their families who will remember her generous hospitality and her loyal interest in their lives always.

She resolutely declined to let ovarian cancer overshadow her life, and her courage and patience ennobled her last days. Her final gift to her beloved family was an example of dying well just as she had lived so well.

We thank all who have supported us so faithfully through this difficult last chapter, and we invite you to join in celebrating Nita's unique and precious life.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Jesus Mission Church, 509 Mulberry Ave., Muscatine IA 52761, Muscatine Center for Strategic Action, 315 Iowa Ave., Muscatine IA 52761, or the Okoboji Protective Association, P.O. Box 242, Okoboji IA 51355.