KUHSE, Opal Pauline (Livingood) 1922-2010

BEISKER, LIVINGOOD, KUHSE

Posted By: Mary Durr (email)
Date: 8/23/2010 at 12:00:58

Schutte Funeral Home

Opal Pauline Kuhse

Opal Pauline Kuhse, 87, Postville, Iowa, died Wednesday, June 2, 2010, at the Sunrise Hill Care and Rehab Center, Traer, Iowa, following a brief illness.

Memorial Services will be held on Saturday, June 5, 2010, at 1:30 pm at the Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, rural Postville, Iowa, with military rites.

Schutte Grau Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Postville, Iowa, is assisting the family.
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Cedar Rapids Gazette 6/5/2010.

Opal Pauline Livingood Kuhse, 87, formerly of Postville, died June 2, 2010, at Sunrise Hill Care Center in Traer. Memorial services: 1:30 p.m. Saturday, June 5, at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, Postville.

Surviving are her children, Cecil (Mari) Kuhse and Dolores Kuhse.

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Opal Pauline (Livingood) Kuhse was born the second child and only daughter of Cecil Edwin and Amanda Claudina (Beisker) Livingood on December 8, 1922 in French Creek Township, Allamakee County.

She attended rural schools through the 8th grade in French Creek and Makee Townships. At the age of 16, in May 1939, she graduated from high school in Postville. She went on to earn a High School Normal Teaching Certificate, which would allow her to teach at a country school when she reached 18. Not old enough to teach, Opal worked in Hinsdale, Ill., as a mother's helper for a period of time and attended Luther College and the State University of Iowa whenever she had enough money saved up. She ended up with 71 hours of college credits. Opal graduated from Radio Electronics School in Omaha, Neb. and tried unsuccessfully to enlist in the United States Army. They said her eyes were poor, so she immediately ate carrots by the bushel. She then worked as a waitress in Chicago while attending the Chicago School of Aircraft Instruments, which was conducted for the U. S. Army Air Forces Air Command. She became a "WAIT" (Womens Aircraft Instrument Technician) and worked at Robins Field, Georgia.

On July 14, 1944, she was accepted and enlisted in the Army. She went on active duty August 3, 1944. After Basic Training at Fort Ogelthrope near Macon, Georgia, she was transferred to Drew Field near Tampa, Florida. She was classified as an airplane instrument mechanic and earned her corporal stripes there. At war's end Opal was transferred to McDill Field in Tampa as a clerk in the enlisted classification section where she worked until being discharged at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, June 28, 1946.

During her service with the 327th Army Air Force Base unit and the 310th Army Air Force Base Unit, she earned the World War II Victory Medal, the American Theater Service Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal.

After her discharge, she taught school at Suttle Creek School in Volney and worked for a time at a Bell and Howell camera factory in Chicago.

On May 22, 1951, she married Milo Kuhse, son of Fred and Anna (Meyer) Kuhse, at the Castalia Zion Lutheran Church. Two children were born to this union, Cecil and Dolores. They farmed in the Postville area until 1957 when they moved to an acreage in Ludlow Township.

Her last job was a typesetter at the Postville Herald in Postville.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, who died March 17, 1995 and her brother Gilbert Francis Livingood, Sept. 16, 2009. She is survived by her children and granddaughter, Nicole; two brothers, William Livingood and Bernard Livingood.

Compiled from family information.