KLEINSCHMIDT, Louise Dorothea 1899-1997

KLEINSCHMIDT, DRALLE

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 3/21/2009 at 11:51:31

GREENE,IOWA - Funeral services for Louise D. Kleinschmidt, 97, of 111 S. Fourth St., Greene, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 16, 1997, at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Greene with the Rev. Perry Brown officiating. Burial will be in Rose Hill Cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 1 to 9 p.m. today at Reid's Funeral Chapel, where the family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. There will be a public scripture service at 7:30 p.m.

Visitation will continue on Wednesday one hour before services at the church.

Louise Dorothea Dralle was born May 18, 1899, in Seelenfeld, in northwestern Germany, a daughter of Karl and Louise (Lange) Dralle, and died Monday, April 14, 1997, at the Ninth Street Chautauqua Guest Home in Charles City from complications of age.

She was baptized on June 4, 1899, at the Windheim Ev. Lutheran Church and received her education in a school near her home in Germany. She later attended a finishing school at Bielefield, Germany. As a young girl, she read and studied the Bible and sang in her church group and helped herd cattle on the family farm. She was confirmed at Windheim on March 16, 1913.

When Louise was 11, a neighbor boy she went to school with, Karl Kleinschmidt, embarked on an adventure to America. Eleven years later, he returned to Seelenfeld for a visit and the two fell in love, and on Feb. 27, 1923, they were wed in the Ev. Lutheran Church at Windheim.

In March of that year, they packed their wedding gifts and set sail for a 14-day voyage to America, where they settled in the rural Greene area where they lived and Karl worked for Guy Clikeman. This marriage was blessed with three children. In 1930 the family moved to the ``home place'' five miles east of Greene.

Louise worked hard on the farm canning vegetables, fruit and 200 jars of meat a year. She raised chickens, sold eggs and milked cows. She cooked lots of good food and was ready to entertain the threshers, work crews and other company. Happy times were when they took two three-month trips to Germany to visit relatives and friends.

In 1961, Karl and Louise moved into their new home in Greene.

Karl died on Jan. 29, 1966. She continued living at home until entering the nursing home in February of 1996.

Louise has been a faithful member of St. Peter's Lutheran Church for 74 years. Louise had a full life being blessed with grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who loved her dearly, and precious memories of the homeland she loved.

Living family members include two daughters, Norma Noel and Gladys Beninga, both of Greene; 10 grandchildren, Larry Noel of Rockford, Lonnie Noel and Rhonda Bylczynski, both of Escondido, Calif., Lynn Noel of Humboldt, Christa Guthrie of Mason City, Robert Kleinschmidt of Fennimore, Wis., Richard Kleinschmidt of Greene, James Beninga of Meadow Vista, Calf., and Shelley Ann Beninga and John Beninga both of Colfax, Calif.; 18 great-grandchildren; a daughter-in-law, Thelma Kleinschmidt of Mason City; and a sister-in-law, Clara Dralle of Allison.

She was preceded in death by her husband; a son, Norman Kleinschmidt in 1994; her parents; one sister, Anna Aumann; two brothers, Henry Dralle and Fred Dralle; and two sons-in-law, the Rev. Marvin Beninga and Orin Noel.

Those planning an expression of sympathy may direct memorials to the Louise D. Kleinschmidt Memorial Fund, in care of the family.

Globe Gazette - 04/15/1997