KOENIG, Mathilde Dorothea (nee Paule) 1895-2003

KOENIG, PAULE

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 2/2/2009 at 18:32:11

Dorothea Paule Koenig, age 107, of Des Moines, Iowa, and formerly of Charles City, Floyd county, Iowa, died on Sunday, September 28, 2003.

Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Riverside Cemetery in Charles City with the Rev. William Trembley officiating.

Survivors include twin sons Gerald of Fort Myers, Florida, and Harold of Satellite Beach, Florida; four granddaughters; and eight great-grandchildren.

Mathilde Dorothea Paule was born November 19, 1895, in Burlington, Iowa, the daughter of Philip and Emma Paule. Early Iowa winemakers, the family grew grapes and other fruits along the banks of the Mississippi. After graduation from Burlington High School in 1913 she went on to the University of Iowa where she graduated in 1917 with a bachelor of arts degree. Her plans to teach German were dashed by the onset of World War I, so she turned to high school English which she taught for the next eight years in Rock Rapids and Charles City and in Geneva, Illinois.

She married Dr. Reuben H. Koenig on July 29, 1925. The couple settled in Charles City where Dr. Koenig established a dental practice, which he maintained until 1981. The couple traveled extensively and, in the late 1960s, volunteered as dental missionaries serving in Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Nepal and New Guinea.

Dr. and Mrs. Koenig moved to Friendship Haven in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1981; Dr. Koenig died in 1982. Mrs. Koenig moved to the NBA Ramsey Home in Des Moines in 2000.

She belonged to the P.E.O. Sisterhood for 76 years and was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Charles City, the United Methodist Women, the American Association of University Women, the Fort Dodge Women's Club and the Alpha Chi Omega sorority.

Memorials may be left to the NBA Ramsey Home, 1611 27th St., Des Moines IA 50310-5499.

The Fullerton-Hage Funeral Home, 401 Blunt St., Charles City, is in charge of the arrangements.