Irene E. Schossow died June 29th 2019 at the age of 95 in her home, the Pocahontas Manor, in Pocahontas Iowa.

Irene Elaine Johnson was born in Pocahontas Iowa on July 10th, 1923. Her parents were Otto Wilhelm "Onion" and Lillie Leora (Crouse) Johnson. She was the youngest of 9 siblings. She attended Pocahontas Community School and graduated from there in 1941. She was an avid reader, and played viola in the school orchestra. She also spent many hours working in her father's vegetable market. After high school she got a job as a telephone operator where she worked during World War II. On January 28th 1945, she married Cecil William Schossow at the Methodist Church in Pocahontas. She and Cecil farmed in the Pocahontas area for many years. When her children were grown, she attended nursing assistant school and started working at the Pocahontas Community Hospital where she continued to work until retirement. She was well known for creating crocheted items for competition at the county and state fairs where she won dozens of ribbons. She also donated afghan blankets to the Pocahontas Manor, the Fort Dodge Homeless shelter and she made dozens of baby blankets for newborns of friends and relatives. She loved to travel, and in the early 1990's she went to many countries in Europe with multiple nieces and nephews to site see and explore ancestral homes, churches and farms. She also attended the Calgary Stampede, NASCAR races, and visited relatives all over the United States. She was obsessed with genealogy and was successful in assembling a multigenerational family record for both the Johnson and Schossow family. She was a lifelong member of the Pocahontas Methodist Church. Even in her retirement she tried to remain active in church and Circle activities.

Cecil and Irene had three children, Cecil Jr. (CW) Schossow (Dianne), Murleen Schossow Holmes (Jim), and Dr. Darwin Schossow (Becky). They had 10 grandchildren and multiple step-grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren. Irene was preceded in death by her husband Cecil Schossow, her son Cecil Jr. (CW) Schossow, her parents and all of her siblings