Ralph C. Fratzke

BARTZ, FRATZKE, MILLER, DUHRKOPF

Posted By: d.beier (email)
Date: 2/19/2007 at 15:43:23

Ralph C. Fratzke
WESTGATE - Funeral services for Ralph Carl Fratzke will be 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 17, at St. Peter Lutheran Church, Westgate, with the Rev. James Webster officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Friends may call from 4 until 8 p.m. Thursday at Becker-Milnes Funeral Home, Sumner, and one hour before services at the church Friday.
Mr. Fratzke, 79, died at his home Monday, Oct. 13, 1997, after a sudden illness.
He was born May 7, 1918, in Westgate, the son of Theodore and Ida Bartz Fratzke. He attended St. Peter's Lutheran School and graduated from Maynard High School in 1936. He then graduated from Gates Business College, Waterloo, in 1938. From 1938 until 1941, he worked in St. Louis, Mo., for the "Lutheran Hour" as a radio broadcaster hosting a program called "Whispering Reeds" of organ music and poetry. From 1941 until 1958, he was in the Foreign Service stationed in Austria, Belgian Congo, Canada, Cuba, England, France, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland. He then worked for an advertising company in Cedar Rapids from 1959 until 1968. From 1968 to 1971, he worked in advertising for the Oelwein Daily Register. From March of 1971 until retiring in 1985. Mr. Fratzke managed the Westgate office of the First National Bank, Oelwein. After retiring, he volunteered at the Westgate Public Library and was eventually hired as a librarian. He was a lifelong member of St. Peter Lutheran Church and served in many capacities within the church. He was active on the Westgate Manor Board and Fayette County Red Cross Board. He was an avid reader and accomplished organist.
Survivors include one brother, Edgar of Victor, Calif.; two sisters, Ruth Miller of Pacific, Mo., and Dorothy Duhrkopf of Albert Lea, Minn.; four nephews; one niece; and three great-nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother-in-law, Charles Duhrkopf.
Memorials may be made in his name to St. Peter Lutheran Church Organ Fund or the Westgate Public Library.