Lucretia "Lou" Beth Whitmore, 89, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Saturday, July 2, 2016, at Calvin Community in Des Moines. She was born on December 10, 1926, in Manning, Iowa, to Lucy (Evans) and Jacob Wolfe.

Lou graduated from Nekoosa High School in Wisconsin in 1945. She went on to Greenfield Psychiatric College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She worked at Nekoosa Foundry in Stenographic work for a while and then for Principal Financial Group from 1968-1990 in Data Entry. She met Fred Whitmore, Jr. in September 1946 in Exira, Iowa, and they married December 28, 1946, in Troy, Kansas, and remained married 66 years until his passing in 2012. From 1946 until 1967 she was a homemaker and a stay at home mom. She was involved in various church and community activities including; Lady's Group, Youth Group Leader, Bible Studies, Den Mother for Boy Scouts and a PTA Chair in West School in Storm Lake. Most of all she loved her family and valued her time with them.

Those left to cherish her memory are her children, Randall Dean (Tammy), Bradley Mark (Carol), Phillip James (Sheri), Kent Hamilton (Vonnie) and Jane Elizabeth (Claude) Rickerd; 13 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; sister in-law, Joan Poulson; many nieces, nephews, other loving family and special friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Fred "Freddie" Whitmore, Jr.; four brothers; one sister, and her beloved Aunt Lillian Stone.

Visitation will be held from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 6, 2016, at Hamilton's Southtown Funeral Home, 5400 SW 9th Street, Des Moines, Iowa. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 7, 2016, at Grace Baptist Church, 112 County Line Road. She will be laid to rest following the service at Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be directed to Grace Baptist Church.

On-line condolences may be expressed at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com