Ember M. (Reid) Madsen, 69, of Bettendorf, Iowa passed away on Saturday, January 11, 2020 at Davenport Lutheran Home nearly 6 years after being diagnosed with dementia following a traumatic brain injury.
Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 16, 2020 at the Runge Mortuary. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, January 17, 2020 in the Runge Mortuary Chapel. She will be laid to rest in Davenport Memorial Park Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Davenport Lutheran Home.
Ember was born on April 2, 1950 in Natchez, Mississippi to Ernest and Reba (Conn) Reid, where she lived until moving to Alexandria, Louisiana to work at a radio station. It was there she met her husband, Richard, who was serving in the US Air Force. The couple was married on April 8, 1973 in Alexandria, LA. As Ember would tell you, she “married a damn Yankee and he moved her north.” The couple lived in Richard’s hometown of Clinton, Iowa before moving to Davenport where they spent more than 20 years, raising two kids, Leah and Russell. Ember worked as a legal secretary for a number of firms and was active in the Legal Secretary Association, where she was recognized as Legal Secretary of the year 1993-1994. Richard and Ember relocated to Altoona, PA in 2001 for Richard’s work. There Ember worked as a church secretary until Richard’s retirement and the couple’s move back home to the Quad Cities in 2015.
Ember was an avid reader, with a collection of over 1,000 books (most of which she made Richard move halfway across the country)! She enjoyed spending time with her friends and loved being with her family. Ember and Richard were members of a number of churches over the years, most recently, Christ Family Church in Davenport.
She is survived by her husband of 46 years, Richard; daughter, Leah Miller, her husband David and children: Christian, Lauryn, McCarty and Makenna, of Bettendorf; and her son, Russell, his wife Mandy and their sons: Brandon, Reid and Chase, of San Diego, CA. She is also survived by her sisters, Era (Randy) Roberts, Elena (David) Smith and Evodna (John) Springer; brother-in-law Jack Smith and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her father, Ernest Reid; mother, Reba McDonald; father and mother-in-law, Eugene and Rosella Madsen; and sister-in-law, RoseAnne (Madsen) Smith.
The family would like to thank the staff at Davenport Lutheran Home for their loving care of Ember over the past two years.
