Mrs. Melvin D. (Mary Grabow) Birch

RUMMEL, GRABOW, BIRCH, VOLK, WALLS, WELLS, SCHROEDER

Posted By: Mary Durr (email)
Date: 10/15/2002 at 20:37:07

Mrs. Melvin D. (Mary Grabow) Birch

Mrs. Melvin D. (Mary Grabow) Birch, 73, 3851 Andrea St., formerly of Westminster, Colo., died after an extended illness at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, April 19, 1998, at the Finley Hospital.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Columbkille's Catholic Church, with burial in Linwood Cemetery. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. today at Dennis Kitchen Funeral Home, 3860 Asbury Road, where there will be a parish Christian wake service at 4 p.m.

Mrs. Birch was an elementary school teacher at Sunset Ridge Elementary School in Westminster for 25 years, retiring in 1982.

She was born on Nov. 6, 1924, in Dubuque, daughter of Carl and Mildred (Rummel) Grabow. She married Melvin D. Birch on Oct. 2, 1948, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Dubuque.
She grew up in Dubuque and graduated from the former St. Columbkille's High School in 1942. She graduated from Clarke College in 1947 with a bachelor of arts degree, and received her master's degree in 1965 from the University of Northern Colorado. She was currently a member of St. Columbkille's Catholic Church.

Surviving are her husband, Melvin D. Birch; two daughters, Laura J. (Joe Rosco) Volk, of Webster, N.Y., and Beth (Lloyd) Walls, of Warren, Ill.; two sons, Melvin D. Jr. (Kathy) Birch, of Fairbanks, Alaska, and Dan R. (Sue) Birch, of Steamboat Springs, Colo.; eight grandchildren; four sisters-in-law, Kathy, Bette and Madonna Birch, all of Dubuque, and Eunice Grabow, of Tucson, Ariz.; and two cousins, Camilla (Don) Wells and Ann "Bette" Schroeder, both of Dubuque.
She was preceded in death by her parents; and a brother, Joseph Grabow.

A Mrs. Melvin D. (Mary Grabow) Birch Memorial Fund has been established by her family.

Dubuque Telegraph Herald newspaper April 21, 1998, Pg. 4B