BALK, Madonna 1909-2000

KING, FINNEGAN, BALK, BAKER, BLONG, PUFFER, MELCHER, NEWTON

Posted By: IA GenWeb Volunteer
Date: 9/1/2010 at 18:32:05

Decorah Public Opinion, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2000

Madonna Balk

Madonna Balk, 91, of Waucoma, died Monday, Nov. 27, 2000 at Mercy Medical Center, New Hampton after a long illness.

Funeral services were Friday, Dec. 1, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Mary Catholic Church in Waucoma with burial in St. Rose Cemetery.

Madonna Balk was born Oct. 6, 1909, at Lawler, daughter of Michael and Anna (King) Finnegan.

She graduated from Lawler High School in 1928.

She worked as a sales person for Kresge Department Store in Marshalltown, and as a waitress at a Cafe in Waucoma, owned by her aunt Margaret Baker.

On Jan. 19, 1932, she married Herman Carl Balk at Mt. Carmel Catholic Church in Lawler. They farmed the same farm near Waucoma before retiring to town in 1973.

Madonna Balk entered the New Hampton Care Center in 1991. She was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and a 50-year member of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas.

Surviving Madonna Balk are four sons, James and Catherine and Mark and Janice, both of Waucoma; Vern and Jeanne, of Ankeny and Charles and
Diane of Montrose, Colo; four daughters, Madonna and David Baker of Glendale, Wisc.; Marie and Irvin Blong of Ft. Atkinson; Delores and Dennis Puffer of Lakewood, Colo, and Judy and William Melcher of Lenexa, Kan.

She is also survived by one brother, Kenneth Finnegan of Glendale, Ariz. and 31 grandchildren, 28 great grandchildren, and a son-in-law, William Newton of Manassas, Va.

Madonna Balk was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Herman Balk on April 4, 1980, one daughter, Barbara Newton, one brother, Russell Finnegan and one sister, Hazel Jones.

Transcribed by an IA GenWeb Volunteer from obituaries found in the Howard-Winneshiek Genealogy Society Library, Cresco, Iowa.