Mildred L. Mooney

Mildred L. Mooney

Paullina, Iowa

            Services for Mildred L. Mooney, age 81, of Paullina who passed away on Monday, May 1, 2023, at Orange City Area Health.  A celebration of life will be held at a later date in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Memorials can be directed to St. Jude's Children's Hospital or to your local humane society or rescue shelter.

           Mildred LaNelle Mooney, the daughter of Floyd and Mary (Byard) Mooney was born on August 11, 1941, in Wheeler, Texas.  She graduated from Sturgis High School in 1962.  LaNelle was married to Roy Allen Yates on August 3, 1964, in Amarillo, Texas, and later divorced in 1984 after 20 wonderful years together.  She trained and showed Quarter Horses from her youth into adulthood and won the South Dakota State All-Around Championship in 1973 on Mandan’s Stance as she attended every show that year.  

            LaNelle and Roy owned and operated the Yates Horse Ranch in Piedmont, South Dakota from 1976 -1986.  Later she worked in retail, until moving to Boise, Idaho in 1998 and worked for the Boise School District as a secretary in the Buildings and Grounds Department from 2001-2016, when she retired with distinction.  In June 2021 she moved to Paullina, Iowa to live near Kiley and Melanie.

            LaNelle enjoyed reading about history and politics, taking care of grandchildren, and rescue cats, watching the Cowboy Channel-Judge Judy and Doctor Jeff, smoking Marlboro’s, drinking a hot cup of coffee in the morning, and having a cool glass of wine or two in the evening.

            Left to cherish her memory are her three sons, Jef (Dana) Yates of Boise, Idaho, Kiley (Melanie) Yates of Paullina, Iowa, and Beau (Yvonne) Yates of Boise, Idaho; grandchildren, Alyssa Miller, Zach, Venna, and Laurel Yates, John Gray, Harrison, Grant, and Emma Yates; brother, Eudell Mooney of Kentucky; also, other relatives and friends.

            LaNelle was preceded in death by her parents, Floyd and Mary Mooney, brothers, Olin, Eugene, Winifred Mooney, and the baby; sisters, Leona Fields, LuVene Larsen, Margaret Mooney, Kathryn Worley; grandson, Jackson Yates, beloved rescue cat, Portia, and the father of her three sons, Roy Yates.