Iris D. Rumbaugh

Iris D. Rumbaugh (née O’Bannon) was born July 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, MO, the second child and only daughter of John F. and Cytha Marie (Aston) O’Bannon. She spent most of her childhood in the Brown Station area of central Missouri. She joined Oakland Christian Church during a revival service in 1944 and was baptized in the tank pond, an old strip pit once used by steam engines traveling between Columbia and Centralia. She graduated from Hickman High School in 1947 and married Charles C. Rumbaugh on August 30th that year. To this union five children were born. Iris began attending Red Top Christian Church in Hallsville, MO, after her marriage and moved her membership there in June of 1951. 

Preceding her in death are her husband Charles C. Rumbaugh, two sons, Charles David and Roy Randall Rumbaugh, a grandson, Charlie Grau, and two brothers, John and Robert O’Bannon. She is survived by her daughters, Sandra Redszus of O’Fallon, MO, Sharon (Sherry) Young of Dunnellon, FL, and Nancy Rumbaugh of Springfield, OH; her brothers, Don (Joyce) O’Bannon and Larry (Mary Sue) O’Bannon, both of Columbia, MO; eleven grandchildren, including an adopted granddaughter; twelve great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. 

Iris enjoyed loving and giving to others, learning, and creating. She was an active member of Red Top Christian Church for many years, where she enjoyed singing in the choir, teaching Sunday School, visiting and transporting members in need.  She was a Brownie and Camp Fire Girl leader, a room mother, a founding member of the Hallsville Band Boosters, and a willing supporter wherever she was needed. She focused her considerable energy and talents on supporting her family: growing and canning sufficient vegetables to feed her large family, selling enough strawberries from her garden to pay for a dishwasher, sewing beautiful clothing for herself and her family: from pajamas to formals to square dance dresses and shirts. 

She was always learning.  Starting as a child, she memorized poems she could still recite two weeks before her death.  When she wanted to do or learn something new, she taught herself—photography (including developing prints), painting works of art, decorating cakes, playing the accordion, square dancing, round dancing, crafting plaster-cast decorative art, and using a laptop to create designs on her computerized sewing machine. In her 50s, she went back to school to learn secretarial skills and began a career as an administrative assistant, first at the Rockbridge Career Center and later at the University of Missouri School of Nursing. Later in life, she became a scholar of the Bible and religion. 

Above all else she was the wife of Charlie Rumbaugh whom she loved deeply. They worked on the farm together, danced together, and raised a family together. It has been her fondest wish to join him in Heaven. They are together again at last.   

Her service will be held at Red Top Christian Church in Hallsville, MO, Saturday, April 25. Visitation at 1:00pm, service at 2:00pm, followed by a light meal prepared by the members of Red Top Christian Church.  Please join us in remembering and honoring Iris who touched the lives of so many during her life. Memorial contributions can be made to the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, or Red Top Christian Church.