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Darlene J. McCoy Obituary

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Darlene J. McCoy

Boone, IA

July 6, 1930 - October 21, 2020

Darlene J. McCoy Obituary

Darlene J. (Pavlik) Frazier McCoy, age 90, of Boone, passed away on Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at the Boone County Hospital. She grew up on a farm in Plymouth County and attended a one-room country school through 8th grade. She graduated from Sioux City Central High in 1947 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Wayne State College, Wayne, Nebraska. She later received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Colorado at Greeley. Friends may call from 2:00 until 4:00 P.M. on Sunday, October 25, 2020 at the Schroeder-Reimers Memorial Chapel at Sixth and Marshall Streets in Boone. Masks are recommended. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Monday, October 26, 2020 at The Church of the Sacred Heart. Masks will be required and social distancing will be in place. Burial will be in the Sacred Heart Cemetery. Darlene’s parents were Edward James Pavlik and Marie Ernestine Givens from Merrill, Iowa. She had one sister, Jean, and one brother, Bud. They enjoyed the companionship of farm life. On April 10, 1950, Darlene married Kenneth Frazier, a union that lasted 36 years. They had three sons, Ed, Mike, and David. On August 13, 1988, Darlene married Steve McCoy. They have been together for 32 years and enjoyed their home and flower gardens at 2110 Story St., Boone. Darlene taught home economics at Laurel (2 years), Butte (2 years), and Decatur (1 year) in Nebraska. She came to Boone in 1959 to teach art in junior high, high school, junior college, and elementary workshops. She retired in 1992 after 33 years teaching in Boone. At the age of 62, she enrolled in Clown College at LaCrosse, Wisconsin and became a REAL professional clown. As Mud Hen the Klown, her clown training continued for eight summers, taking classes such as makeup, marketing, and blowing bubbles. She learned many tricks of the trade and her specialty was face painting, balloon animals, and comedy magic. Serving about 100-mile radius of Boone, Mud Hen was very popular and highly in demand for birthday parties, business and town celebrations, and senior centers. Mud Hen the Klown entertained for 23 continuous years. That’s a lot of smiles! Darlene was President of Art Educators of Iowa in 1975. She was named Teacher of the Year for the State of Iowa in 1981 and fourth runner up for National Teacher of the Year. Judges were impressed with her ability to make the misfits fit! Graduate workshops included instructing teachers how to use motivational techniques with workshops in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. Darlene was instrumental in starting the Boone Alternative School, Futures, in Boone. Darlene served as supervisor for the half-block mural located at 9th and Story Streets, painted by 100 art students at Boone High School in 1976 and 1984. Darlene served as President of the Boone Chamber of Commerce. She was a member of the Daybreakers Kiwanis of Boone and became Lt. Governor of Iowa Kiwanis 1994-95. Because of her interest in conservation, Governor Terry Branstad appointed Darlene to the Iowa Green Belt project, and she helped establish the Neal Smith Learning Center, Prairie City. She was honored by Governor Robert Ray and Governor Branstad for her volunteer work with the elderly. Darlene served as camp cook for several summers with Project ECO environmental education trips from Ames through the Black Hills and Tetons. Darlene was a member of the Retired School Personnel since 1992. Darlene was interested in international education and hosted two American Field Service foreign students, Zak Zada, Afghanistan, and Peter Theobald, Germany, and a school principal, Takao Watanabe, from Japan. As a result of these worldly connections, she traveled over both oceans and was a guest of the German family and Japanese family for 3 weeks each. She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Bud; and son, Ed; Uncle Merlin Givens, who was like a brother to her; and Merlin’s three sisters. She is survived by her husband, Steve; sister, Jean of North Carolina; two sons, Mike (Cindy) of Baker City, Oregon and David (Jessica) of Montgomery, Texas; 13 grandchildren; 32 great-grandchildren; and many friends and former students. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Schroeder-Reimers Memorial Chapel at Sixth and Marshall Streets in Boone. Online condolences may be left to Darlene’s family at www.schroedermemorialchapel.com. In lieu of flowers, memorial donation may be directed to the Darlene McCoy Family, C/O Schroeder-Reimers Memorial Chapel, P.O. Box 15, Boone, Iowa, 50036. The family will later designate the memorials to organizations important to Darlene.

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