Margaret I. Lalk, 86, of Hawkeye, died Wednesday, May 21, 2014, at the Hillcrest Home in Sumner.

Funeral services will be held 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, May 27, 2014, at the First Baptist Church in Sumner with Rev. Robert Burchfield officiating. Interment will be in Wilson Grove Cemetery, rural Sumner. Friends may call from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday, May 26, 2014, at Becker-Milnes Funeral Home in Sumner and for one hour preceding services at the church on Tuesday. A memorial fund will be established in her name. 

Margaret Ilene, daughter of Wilfred and Hazel (Moser) Potratz, was born December 19, 1927, at home in Sumner, Iowa. She was baptized after accepting Christ as her personal savior and joined the Elgin Baptist Church at the age of eleven. In 1944, she became a charter member of the First Baptist Church of Sumner, where she remained and served faithfully as long as her health permitted. Margaret attended rural school and graduated from Sumner High School in 1945. She attended college at Upper Iowa in Fayette, and taught country school at Banks #3 for three years.

On August 12, 1947, Margaret was united in marriage with Herman Lalk at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, Iowa. Margaret’s first love was her family, then her church. She sang many solos for Ladies Retreat, weddings, funerals, anniversaries and school functions. She also had a big garden, loved flowers, and raised chickens, ducks, and kittens. She taught Sunday School and organized the Sunday School Christmas Eve Program for many years. She also led Bible School and was the leader of the Sunday School for the first eight grades.

Margaret is survived by three sons, David (Debrah) Lalk of Westgate, James (Nancy) Lalk of Sumner, and Steve (Sharon) Lalk of Richmond, Virginia; eleven grandchildren; and twenty-four great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Herman, who died October 22, 2012; a daughter, Norma Rieck; her parents; one brother, Lorimer Potratz; and one sister, Dorothy Settje.