Funeral Services for Lois Carlberg, age 86 of Storm Lake, formerly of Early, IA, will be at 11AM on Thursday, February 19, 2026, at the Farber & Otteman Funeral Home in Sac City. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service on Thursday, from 10-11AM. Burial will be in the Galva Township East Cemetery in Galva. Lois passed away on Saturday, February 14, 2026, at Methodist Manor in Storm Lake. Farber & Otteman Funeral Home of Sac City is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Lois Carlberg, 86, went to be with our Lord and Savior on Saturday, February 14, 2026, at Methodist Manor in Storm Lake, IA.
A visitation will be held on Thursday, February 19, at 10:00 a.m. at the Farber & Otteman Funeral Home in Sac City. The funeral service will follow the visitation at 11:00 a.m. with Elder Charlie Gilmore officiating. A graveside service will follow the funeral at Galva Township East Cemetery.
Lois Elaine (McManigal) Carlberg was born January 13, 1940, at the Independence Sanitarium in Independence, MO to Donald Irving and Lucille Viola (Harrington) McManigal. Shortly after, the family moved to California. The family initially lived in Los Angeles where Lois attended kindergarten and first grade. The family moved to Sierra Madre when she was in first grade and lived there until she went into sixth grade. At that time, the family moved back to Independence, MO where they lived with Lois’s Grandma Harrington (her Grandpa Harrington had died). Lois spent her Junior High years (7th, 8th & 9th) in Independence. When Lois was a sophomore, the family moved to Kansas City to the home that her father (who was a carpenter) had built. She graduated from Central High School in 1957 which was the largest high school in Kansas City at the time.
At the age of 11, Lois was baptized and confirmed at the Stone Church in Independence. Her sister, Judith, was also baptized and confirmed the same day. The two sisters often reminisced about what a wonderful experience it was and how much they felt the Lord’s Spirit that day.
Lois worked at Engelwood Theatre for 2 years during high school with her lifelong friend, Shirley (Johnson) Phelps. After graduation, Lois worked for a year at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City to earn money to go to Graceland College in Lamoni, IA. Lois attended Graceland College (now University) from 1958-60 and graduated with an associate’s degree in education with training to teach. Her first teaching job was in Alta, IA in fourth grade while she worked towards her bachelor’s degree at Buena Vista College (now University). It was during her time at Graceland that she became lifelong friends with Sharon (Maymon) Burnett. On one of her visits to the Maymon farm by Schaller, she met Marvin Carlberg. The story they told was that Marvin took one look at that blond, blue-eyed beauty wearing the red dress (that Lois kept in the cedar chest through the years) and declared that she was the one that he was going to marry. And sure enough, on June 29, 1963, Marvin married his L.E. (short for Lois Elaine, as he affectionally called her) at the Blue Ridge Church in Kansas City.
They made their home on the farm near Schaller. Lois took another summer session of classes going toward her degree that same summer. Because of the district rules for teaching at the time, Alta required teachers to live in the district. So, Lois got a job teaching third grade in Odebolt-Arthur until their daughter, Rhonda Sue, was born in 1964. Lois then became a full-time mother and farm wife. Son, Daniel Marvin, came along in 1966 and Loree Beth completed the family in 1973.
While the kids were growing up, Lois was a 4-H leader teaching many a 4-H’er to cook, bake and sew. She loved the Arts & Crafts club and was part of the ceramics group. Lois said she spent practically her entire adult life as a Sunday School teacher. She did many church bulletin boards and was known for her many flannel graph lessons and morning worship lessons. Lois was a lifelong member of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ. The conversion experience she had when she was baptized in 1951 led to an unwavering devotion to her Lord. The church itself went through many splits (now called Community of Christ) and it was during those times that she became the closest to the Lord by reading and really studying her scriptures to find the truth. That truth, she felt, was exactly what she experienced at the age of 11. She held to that truth until the end.
Marvin and Lois moved from the family farm to Early, IA in 1999 where Marvin drove bus for Region XII and later for the Ridgeview School District. Lois worked for a short time at the greenhouse in Sac City before starting to do secretarial work for Experience Works in Sac City. She loved her years doing this work but always missed teaching.
After Marvin died in 2022, Lois moved to an acreage by Schaller in 2024 for a short time before entering assisted living at Wel-Life in Alta also in 2024 and then Methodist Manor in 2025. Lois will be remembered for her unwavering devotion to the truth of the gospel. She was a devoted wife of almost 59 years with the love of her life. Every once in a while, as she’d reminisce of the past, she’d say, “well, I guess it was God’s plan that I was supposed to marry Marv”. She often talked of all the meals she prepared for the men during the years of corn shelling and crop farming. She often reminisced about her youngest sister, Gloria, coming to stay during the summers and Christmas. She talked about her father (that she always called Daddy) spending a month or more at a time on the farm with them after her mother died in 1973.
The family is not surprised that she’s the last one to die in Marvin’s family. She was notoriously known for being the last one whether it was going through a food line or showing up for an event. “We’ll just wait” was her life motto and no one was ever able to change it. Marvin’s life motto was “waitin’ on a woman”. Her children often teased her that her tombstone would read “I wasn’t ready yet”. But we know that when she heard her Savior’s voice to come, she was all too ready to enter her eternal reward. He was the One voice that she’d listen to. And Marv’s wait is finally over.
Left to cherish her memory are her children: Rhonda (Carey) Schmidt of rural Schaller, IA, Dan (Kerri) Carlberg of Eastsound, WA, and Loree (Mike) Vander Zwaag of Orange City, IA; grandchildren: Beth (Mike) Smith, Lisa (Claude) Smith, Justin (Kelly) Carlberg, Lexi (Spencer) Schwanz, and Joshua (Kaman) Vander Zwaag; great-grandchildren: Layton, Wesley, Jameson, Eden, Elliot, Collin, Sadie, Claude, Carlee, Ezra and Trace; sister Gloria McManigal of North Kansas City, MO; along with many nieces and nephews that she loved dearly.
She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; Marvin’s parents—Willard & Tessie (Coalter) Carlberg; grandson James Carlberg; brothers Ray (Charlotte) Miller and David (Marcia) McManigal; sister Judith (Melvan) Boyer; sisters-in-law/brothers-in-law Delores Carlberg, Darlene (Bob) Wright, Frank Koth, and Vivian (Bill) Anderson; niece Jan (Willie) Lang; and nephew Dennis Andersen.
The Farber & Otteman Funeral Home of Sac City has been entrusted to care for Lois and her family.
