Layde Arlillian “Lil” Gould Gates age 90, of Marengo died Sunday morning May 8, 2011 at Rose Haven Nursing Home after a brief illness.  Funeral Services: 10:30 A.M. Wednesday, May 11, 2011 at Koszta United Methodist Church, Koszta, IA with Rev. Katie Dawson officiating. Burial will be in the Koszta Cemetery.  Visitation: 4 to 7 P.M. Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at Kloster Funeral Home, Marengo. Memorials may be contributed to the Marengo Library, Hospice Compassus, and to Rose Haven Nursing Home for a secure garden spot.
         
Layde is survived by her brother Carol “Kelly” Gould, Belle Plaine, and six children:  Linda (Tom) Kamp Le Claire, IA; Sandy Rupnow, Ames; Rita Gates, North Liberty; Rick Gates, Marengo; Julie Gates; Belle Plaine; and Steve (Lori) Gates, Neosho, MO.  Also surviving are nine grandchildren: Susan Young and Teresa Suchomel, Iowa City; Gates Kamp, New York; David (Ann) Kamp, Le Claire, IA; Kathy Kamp, Chicago; Mike (Rhonda) Spencer, Phoenix, AZ; Matt (Jessica) Spencer, Laurel, IA; Ryan Gates, Maryville, MO.; and Megan Gates, Springfield, MO.  Also surviving are 16 great-grandchildren.
         
Preceding her in death were her husband Maynard (1999), her parents Benjamin F. Gould and Layde Eva Sloan Gould and five siblings: Merlyn, Margaret Gould Kanton, Wilbur, Gregory, and Dorothy Gould Herber; and a grandson, James Bowton. 
         
Layde Arlillian “Lil” Gould was born October 30, 1920, in rural Iowa County south of Belle Plaine, IA., the first of seven children born to Benjamin F. and Layde Eva Sloan Gould, farmers.  The Goulds and Sloans were among the early settlers to Iowa and Poweshiek Counties in the 19th Century.  Lil attended and graduated from the Iowa County Schools in 1934.  She also actively supported her parents, beginning at an early age, through the hard times of the 1920’s, the Great Depression, and numerous family illnesses by helping raise her younger siblings, doing household and farm chores for her parents, and working as hired help on neighboring farms to support the family.
         
As a child, she developed a life-long passion for music, inspired by her parents and relatives who incorporated music into their work and social lives.  School inspired a passion for reading, especially history and geography that later led to her many trips and travel to foreign countries. 
         
Lil worked full-time for a series of farm families until she met and later married a childhood friend, Maynard C. Gates, son of Charles C. and Myrtle Cronbaugh Gates, on December 13, 1941, at the Methodist Church in Vinton, IA.  Lil and Maynard began farming south of Koszta on one of the Kemler farms where daughters Linda, Sandra, and Rita were born.  In 1948, they moved to the Bill Wilkenson farm south of Marengo where son, Rick was born.  In 1951 they moved to another Kemler farm, north of Marengo near the old brick factory, purchasing the farm in 1951 and later the river-bottom land below the farm, from Vernon (Honker) Parks in 1953.  Here, daughters Julie (1952) and Steve (1955) were born.  Together, they farmed there until Maynard retired in 1982. Her consummate book-keeping skills and personal resilience allowed them to expand their farming enterprise while minimizing debt.  Lil remained on the farm until she moved to the Rose Haven Nursing home, following recovery from cancer, in 2008. 

Lil was the perfect host for visiting friends and families.  Beautifully landscaped flowerbeds decorated the yards.  The bright colors and fragrant aromas sparked the curiosity of many a grandchild. Coffee, hot cocoa, pastries, and deserts sustained many a conversation into the late afternoon and evening.  Lil also made time for a number of volunteer organizations including the Iowa County Extension Service and actively supported her children’s school activities in band, chorus, football, basketball and track.  She eventually fulfilled her life-long dream for American and International Travel.  With her egg money and other savings, she planned family vacations to the Rocky Mountains and Great Lakes.  Her travels eventually took her to over 12 foreign countries on three different continents, including a walk on the Great Wall of China and a lap around the site of the ancient Olympic Games in Greece.