ALMA BARNA ELLIOTT

Alma Barna Elliott was born July 31, 1925 in Troy, New York, and the daughter of Stephen Peter and Josephine Ryan Barna. She graduated high school in New York. Alma attended college at State University of New York in Albany, New York. In 1943 she moved to Washington D.C. to help her sister with her children. Alma lived two years in D.C. before she decided to attend college again. She wanted to study dietetics so she moved west to Ames, Iowa to attend Iowa State College now University.
Alma married Loren Spencer Elliott on April 2, 1948 in the Methodist Collegiate Church in Ames, Iowa. To this marriage, three sons were born: Mark Stephen Elliott, Robert Loren Elliott, and James Reese Elliott. Alma graduated from Iowa State College in December 1948 with a B.S. degree in Nutrition. They settled as a family in Jefferson before returning to Ames for a short time. Loren taught Voc-Ag to WWII vets in Manson, Iowa until he took a job in Fort Dodge before his work took them to Sioux City and Topeka. They returned to Iowa where Alma was employed several years as a dietitian in the Iowa Methodist Medical Center and in 1986 was a consulting dietitian for three retirement homes near Des Moines. They lived in the Des Moines area from 1963 until they moved to Mesa, Arizona in 1993.
Alma was a member of the American Association of University Women.
Alma passed away Sunday, October 22, 2017 at the Clearview Home in Mount Ayr. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband Loren; middle son Robert “Bob” Elliott; sister Joyce and her husband Paul Loatman; father and mother-in-law Mark and Ilah Elliott; brothers and sisters-in-law Jack and Mildred Elliott, Donald and Zoe Nichols, Lois Ives.
Survivors include her sons Mark (Susan) Elliott of Gallup, New Mexico and James “Jim” Elliott of Houston, Texas; daughter-in-law Margaret Elliott of Des Moines, Iowa; three grandchildren Alicia, Mathew, and Sean Elliott, of Robert and Margaret; brother-in-law Roy Ives; niece and nephews Craig (Ellen) Elliott, Dick (Donna) Elliott, Karen (Rick) Bender and Kirk Elliott.
Memorial services were held at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at the Armstrong Funeral Home in Mount Ayr. Family was present from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Family will be present from 1:00 p.m. To 2:00 p.m.
Private burial was held at Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines, Iowa.
A memorial has been set up in Alma’s name for a scholarship fund.