Viva I. Allen, 94, of Sloan, Iowa, passed Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at Pleasant View Care Center in Whiting, Iowa. Services will be held 11:00 am Friday, November 21, 2014 at Waterbury Funeral Service of Sioux City, 4125 Orleans Ave. A visitation will be held one hour prior to service time at the funeral home. Burial will be at Memorial Park Cemetery following the service.

Viva was the fourth of nine children, born on January 25, 1920, the daughter of Ira Phillip and Carrie (Henry) Shoop. She was born in a farmhouse in Union County, South Dakota. She attended small country schools and graduated the eighth grade. She then went to work as a hired girl for a dairy farmer in Vermillion, South Dakota.

On April 21, 1937, she married Orin Allen. They eventually settled in Sergeant Bluff to raise their family of seven. She was a devoted wife and mother. She enjoyed her plants, flowers, dogs, and chickens. She was a friend to all.

Left behind to cherish her memory are her brother Phil (Issy) Shoop, daughters Marlis (Fred) Welch and Janice (Jim) Conway, sons Orin, Jr.(Sharon), Garry, Ronald (Kathy), and Stephen (Myrtie) Allen, many grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchilden, and many nieces and nephews.

Viva was preceded in death by her husband of 46 years, Orin Sr., a daughter Joyce Getz, sisters Beatrice, Blanche, Arlene, and Loretta, brothers Lawrence "Bud," James, and Earl Shoop, and a grandson Timothy Getz.