Iva Adeline Heath

July 14, 2020

Iva A. Heath Obituary

Iva Heath, 94, known by many as Ivy, was called to her eternal resting place on July 14, 2020, at Via Christi Village in Ponca City. She entered this world on December 2, 1925, in Center, CO, born to Fred and Ica Almeda Kirkendall. She is survived by her son Larry Heath (Vickie); their three children, Todd Heath, Dana Dannenberg, and Ryan Heath; 7 grandchildren (Kaitlin, Kaleb, Kameron, Kohlton, Kierstin, Brayden, and Ella); and four sisters, Dorothy Myers, Mary Houser, Shirley Weaver, and Erma Burke. Iva was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Horace Dale Heath; a sister Nellie Lind; and 4 brothers Forest, Leroy, Fred, and Eugene. A service is planned to be held at the Grace Memorial Chapel in Ponca City on October 9th.  At that time, Iva will be interned next to her husband Dale in the Newkirk Cemetery.

In high school, Ivy played volleyball and basketball and sang in the choir. She also wrote a school play and portrayed one of the characters in the play. Ivy and Dale met in 1939 just before Dale joined the Navy. He was aboard ship in Pearl Harbor when it was bombed in 1941 and Ivy did not know if he survived for several weeks. Her happiest day was when she received a telegram that only said "I am alive".  She cried. They were married in Tulsa in 1943 on their way to New York City where Dale was stationed. Two months later he was deployed to the Pacific Warfront and Iva moved back to Newkirk. After the war, they had their son Larry, and they moved to Bakersfield, California. Later, they moved back to Newkirk to be closer to family, and Dale took over his father's hardware store where Iva was the bookkeeper. Later they would move to Tulsa for a few years and then to Wichita. When Dale retired, they moved to Kay Lake, near Newkirk and personally designed and built a home on the lake, where they lived for many years.  Finally, they moved to their last home in the town of Newkirk to be closer to family.

They loved to vacation with friends and family, and Ivy learned to paint from her cousin Jim Fite, which became her biggest hobby.  Several years after Dale passed away in 2007, Ivy moved to Via Christi Village, and became apartment mates and best friends with Barbara Overman.  Barbara passed away a few months before Ivy.  Her sisters Mary and Erma were faithful visiters to Ivy and attended to many of her needs during her later years, especially after she moved to the memory care unit.

Ivy will forever be known for her energetic, selfless, giving and caring spirit, who is again with her loving husband Dale.