Jayne Margaret Eiben

Jayne Margaret Eiben, age 88, passed peacefully on a beautiful fall morning, October 12, 2025, in Viroqua, Wisconsin, with her daughters at her side.

Jayne was born on September 2, 1937, to Neal and Gertrude Hayden, in Monticello, Iowa. She grew up on the family farm and was always very proud of being an Iowa farm girl. She had fond memories of seasons outside working with her beloved dad on the farm. She drove a tractor, rode horses, helped bale hay, had slumber parties in the hay mow, and picnicked in the pasture by the creek. She graduated from Monticello High School and married her high school sweetheart, Galen Eiben in July 1956. Galen was, of course, an Iowa farm boy.

Jayne supported Galen as he attended college and graduate school, and they began raising their three daughters. The family settled in Waverly, Iowa, where Galen taught at Wartburg College and Jayne was a homemaker and worked part time at the local library and later at the Wartburg College Library. Jayne took great pleasure in supervising and working with the students in the college library’s work study program. Jayne was a devoted wife, and loving mother and grandmother. She had many hobbies and passions over the years. She doted on countless family pets, was an avid reader, and an accomplished seamstress. She delighted in spring wildflowers, carefully tended to her extraordinary flowerbeds, and loved baking bread and other treats for her family and friends. She and Galen moved to Shell Rock in 1978 where they devoted years to ambitious projects at home, including their thriving vegetable and English flower gardens and bee keeping. The Shell Rock community became dear to them both. Jayne and Galen shared a deep and abiding faith in God and a commitment to caring for others within their community and beyond.

Survivors include her daughter Vicky Eiben (Randy Kahn) of Terrebonne, Oregon; daughter Valerie Strauss of Lockhart, Texas; daughter Margaret Hoversten (Rob) of Viroqua, Wisconsin; grandchildren Marian (“Mimi”) Strauss, Kenneth Hoversten (Reid Erickson), Jesse Kahn, and Elizabeth Hoversten; sister Sara Struve of Monticello, Iowa; brother-in-law Garth Graft of Marengo, Iowa, and sister-in-law Marilyn Conn Myers of Bloomington, Illinois. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband Galen Eiben; brother-in-law Rex Struve, brother-in-law Ray Eiben; sister-in-law Myrna Eiben, and sister-in-law Ruth Graft.

If desired, financial donations would be appreciated to the RedLou Mobile Library (c/o Viroqua Area Foundation, P.O. Box 262, Viroqua, WI 54665); Middle Coon Valley Lutheran Church (P.O. Box 75, Chaseburg, WI 54621); Faith Lutheran Church in Shell Rock, Iowa (422 N. Prairie St., Shell Rock, IA 50670); or The Nature Conservancy (4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, Virginia 22203).

A Funeral Service for Jayne will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, October 17, 2025, in the Chapel of Bethel Home & Services in Viroqua, WI. Jayne will be laid to rest at a later date in Monticello, Iowa. Online Condolences may be expressed at www.vossfh.com.