Irene Darlene (England) Pankau, passed peacefully at her home, with family by her side the evening of November 10, 2025.

Irene was born April 18, 1936, to Leona May (Christy) and Elmer McKinley England of Clearfield, Iowa.

Irene was a good student, she liked school and her teachers liked her as well. She sang in chorus and played the clarinet in the marching band. Irene played the piano as well, with a playlist of 125 hymns and songs memorized, still in 2024. She was baptized at 14 years.

She liked sports and competition, playing on the softball team, the basketball team and jump rope team, traveling to many local towns.

Irene had 3 children, Danny, Lynn, and James, 11 grandchildren, numerous great grandchildren and 1 great great-granddaughter.

Irene married the love of her life Max Pankau, and they shared 53 years together until he passed on November 11, 2010.

She worked in Iowa State Hospitals, the Arizona Public School System. She and Max both retired from Energizer Battery in Maryville in 1997, after 23 years.

They resided in Tucson, AZ 11 years and came to Maryville in 1968, before moving to Oxford, MO in 1990.

She always made time to play scrabble, canasta, uno, qwirkle or dominoes, with her siblings, kids, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She was always ready to go to watch her family compete, swimming, playing ball and was always ready for a road trip. Irene loved babysitting for others, and with her grandchildren as well.

Those left to cherish her memory are her 3 children and spouses, (Dalene and Billie) many grandchildren, her sisters, Maxine Round of IA, and Fern Pettengill of CA, and Shirley, Joanna, Joe, Richard, Ladonna, Danny and Linda Pankau of MO and numerous nieces, nephews and their families and friends.

A memorial gathering will be held on Saturday, November 29th at Rose Hill Acres, 105 South Main Street, Maryville from 11:00am to 2:00pm. In lieu of flowers, Memorials may be sent to New Nodaway Humane Society or Parkinson Foundation.