Kunau, Margaret A.

KUNAU

Posted By: John Schulte (email)
Date: 10/7/2005 at 11:24:32

Clinton Herald

Margaret A. Kunau, age 93, died on Tuesday, September 27, 2005 at Finley Hospital in Dubuque, Iowa. Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, October 8th at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Preston, Iowa with Pastor Gregory Geier officiating. Visitation will be from 4:00-8:00 p.m. Friday, October 7 at the Miller-Law-Jones Funeral Home in Preston.

Memorials may be made to the Scholarship Fund at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church or to St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. Condolences may be left to the family at www.lawjonesfuneralhome.com.

Margaret was born on August 19, 1912 to John and Helen (Matthiesen) Mommsen on a farm south of Miles. Margaret had nine brothers and sisters. After graduating from Miles Public School, she attended Iowa State University, studying home economics, and then taught in a Clinton County country school. On January 1, 1935, she married Robert Kunau. Their first home was in Miles, where she and Robert established the Kunau Implement Company. From the very first; their marriage was a true partnership; nurturing a strong family; ensuring a solid business; and enjoying good friends, good food, and extended family to the fullest degree possible, Robert Kunau died in October 1985.

Margaret lived for nearly sixty years in Preston, Iowa, where she and her husband Robert owned and operated the Kunau Implement Company and were dealers of a wide range of farm implements. It is Margaret's love of life and her selfless service that will be most remembered and missed by her family and friends. The list of people whose lives she touched is long, from the generations of preschoolers at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church who were blessed to have Mrs. Kunau to introduce them to the Bible and to more recent years in her work as coordinator of the Manna Center in Preston. Her quilts and teddy bears, made for and given to many friends, will be reminders of her generosity.

Her family, which is grateful for her many gifts of love and life, includes daughters Jeanne Narum of Washington, DC; Audrey (Philip) Dybdahl, who lives in Madison, Wisconsin; and sons Robert (Mary) Kunau who lives in San Antonio, Texas; Daniel (Janet) Kunau and Richard (Brenda) Kunau who live in Preston, IA; and William (Renelle) Kunau in Plymouth, Minnesota, She will also be missed by two brothers Waldo and Wayne Mommsen; four sisters Ann Simmons, Velma Peterson, Jeannette (Raymond) Eggers and Fern Dosland. In addition, her life is celebrated by seventeen grandchildren and their families, including twenty-four great grand children.

Margaret is preceded in death by her husband Robert; one sister Lois McCulloh; two brothers John Mommsen Jr. and Glen Mommsen and one great-grandson, Stefan Narum.

She leaves a rich legacy for her family: an understanding of the importance of gathering around tables of good food (right from the garden, if possible); the value of hard work, and of doing one's best at all times; and of the joy in being always open to experiencing God's world, from babies to butterflies, from eagles to elderberries, to the Iowa countryside.