AILEEN P. F. WELD
The world lost a bright star on Monday, July 15, 2024 when Aileen Patricia Feany Weld, an inspiration to countless others, passed away at age 91. Memorial Mass will be held on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, at 11 a.m. at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Humboldt. Inurnment will take place at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Humboldt. Services have been entrusted to Lentz Funeral Home of Humboldt. Online condolences may be left at www.lentzfuneralhome.com.
Those who were fortunate enough to have known Aileen (aka “Pat” to many friends) will recall her foremost wearing an infectious smile and a fun-loving twinkle in her eye that inspired them to smile and laugh with her. While she always looked for the laugh, Aileen was also a tough, hardy soul who stoically weathered life’s struggles and didn’t back down from challenge. Her childlike enjoyment of life and her ready laughter saw her through many trying times.
Aileen would often note that her crowning achievement was raising her six children. It was no small accomplishment bringing up her children – all six born within seven years – to adulthood. She did so single-handedly, without the benefit of a partner for most of those years. Her objective had been to see them all graduate from high school; she surpassed her goal, supporting every one of her kids to complete bachelor’s degrees, plus two master’s degrees and a doctorate.
Aileen Weld was born June 11, 1933, in Spencer, the sixth of seven children of Andrew and Harriet Feany. When Aileen was a young girl, her family moved to Dakota City, then Humboldt, where she first attended Catholic school then graduated from Humboldt High School in 1951. As a teenager, Aileen began studying classical piano, a passion she would continue to pursue throughout her life. One of her prized possessions was her Story & Clark spinet piano, which gave her joy even in her final months.
Aileen’s adventure life began right after high school when she took a job with the FBI and moved to Washington, D.C. She couldn’t resist her two older brothers’ offer to join them on a cross-country road trip to California, but returned to D.C. afterward and met her husband-to-be, Donald Weld, a marine, also from Iowa, and stationed nearby. The young couple married and quickly became parents, first living in Los Angeles but eventually moving back to Iowa, settling in the small town of Britt. Aileen later moved her six kids on her own to Iowa City and began a career as a purchaser with the Veterans Administration Medical Centers, working for 25 years at VA hospitals there, in Northampton, MA, Grand Island, NE, and Albany, NY.
Following her retirement from the VA, Aileen kept on the move for several years. She loved to drive and completed numerous cross-country road trips visiting her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and seeing the country. She passed on the travel gene to several of her children as well, and ventured abroad to visit them in Japan and China, and for trips to Ireland, England and Italy. Eventually, Aileen settled down a bit, living in Amherst for 16 years, and in Easthampton and Northampton in her final years.
Aileen leaves behind her six children: Vicki Weld of Northampton; Doug Weld of Ashland, OR; Rhonda Luebke and her husband Gale of Lakeview, MN; Sandra Marz and husband Victor of Iowa City; Jeff Weld and his wife Mary of Cedar Falls; and Eric Weld of Easthampton. She also leaves behind 11 loving grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
