 |
|
 |
|
Cedar Rapids Gazette; March 31, 1916
Mrs. Mary Raetz, Pioneer, is Dead; Benton County Resident; For Sixty Years She Had Lived in Atkins and Its Vicinity. Special to The Gazette. Atkins, Iowa, March 31.
Thursday, March 30, marked the death of Mrs. Mary Raetz, one of Benton county's early settlers. For sixty years she had lived near Atkins and the last three in the town. Coming at the age of 6 years with her parents, Jacob and Mary Gasser from Baden, Germany, in 1854, they lived for one year in Linn county, and then came to the old Raetz homestead two miles west of Atkins. She was the only child of this union. She never left the old home till her last three years residence in Atkins. Mrs. Raetz was a very interesting person to talk with regarding the early days in Iowa for she had a splendid memory and a happy way of relating the privations and struggles ot the '50's and '60's.
Her long residence in the community led to her being affectionately called "Grandma Raetz" by everybody and such she was in her genuine sympathetic interest and kindness to all. No one was more quick to discover need and supply it than she. During the last two weeks of her life when she was tortured night and day by a painful disease, she was constantly thinking of others and their comfort.
Mrs. Raetz was a member of the New Jerusalem church and as long as services were held in the faith of her choice she faithfully attended there. In recent years she was a regular attendant of the Presbyterian church, Atkins.
She is survived by four children: Jacob S. Schlotterback, Manly, Iowa; Mrs. Martin Roths, Atkins; Mrs. Frederick Roths, Vinton; and John F. Raetz, Atkins, and by nine grandchildren.
The funeral services will be held Sunday, April 2, at 2 p.m. in the Presbyterian church. Burial will be in the Raetz cemetary on the old farm.
 |
