Ursula Martha Hall passed away on September 9, 2020 at the Iowa Jewish Senior Life Center in Des Moines where she had resided as a patient since May 2019. During her stay the entire staff provided a safe and loving home for which her family will be forever grateful. Ursula was born September 2, 1935 in Blonsdorf, Germany to Robert and Martha Koevel. She had two younger sisters, Gisela, still living in Germany, and Monika, now deceased. Their father died near the very end of World War II and their mother passed away in her mid-80s in what is now West Germany. Ursula was educated in the Russian sector of Germany, referred to at that time as East Germany. She managed to leave that sector when she was in her late teens with a suitcase of clothes, a few German Marks and her skills as a retail decorator learned in the last two years of her twelve years of schooling. At the time, her only relative in West Germany was an uncle and his family from her father's side. It took some time for her to find anything in her field, but after working in some menial jobs she was employed as a decorator in a small retail establishment in Dusseldorf, Germany. Sometime thereafter she worked as a decorator in a much larger department store, but then transferred from that store to a MAGES store in Mannheim, Germany. In 1960, that was where she was living and working when she met her husband to be, a soldier named Howard, who was stationed on an army base in Heidelberg, Germany. It must have been love at first sight for both of them and that love endured through a marriage of 59 years. The marriage took place on April 25, 1961 in a small ceremony in Heidelberg followed by a week long honeymoon at a Mediterranean resort in Spain. In June Howard's time in the service was up and he returned to the states where he was discharged. Ursula had several things she had to do before she could leave Germany and join him in Iowa. Finally, in October the happily married couple were once again together. The following year, on August 10, 1962, their son James Michael was born and in 1963 Howard made a job change and the family moved to Des Moines. After they were settled in their new home in Urbandale, Ursula went job hunting and was offered a position as a store decorator in the Sears store located in the Merle Hay Mall. Ursula had many interests. She loved swimming, her flower gardens and her pets (mostly dogs, once a gerbil, another time a large black rabbit, two ducks and the young colts and fillies produced by their four Arabian mares). She loved to read and could communicate in German and English and to some extent in Russian and Spanish. She was a talented artist, played the harmonica, loved to travel and enjoyed helping older people. Ursula is survived by her beloved husband Howard, her son James Michael and his wife Janet, her granddaughter Bridget, grandson Dylan and her sister Gisela. Ursula will be cremated and her ashes and Howard's will eventually be interned at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery located near Van Meter. Because of the problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fact that many of Ursula's family and friends do not reside in Iowa, no services have been scheduled. Memorial contributions may be made in Ursula's name to either The Iowa Animal Rescue League or to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.