BRAKEL, Joseph Allen 1970-1999

BRAKEL, KOTZ, EKBORG

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 11/13/2010 at 17:54:11

JOSEPH ALLEN BRAKEL

NORA SPRINGS, IOWA - Joseph Allen Brakel, 29, of 810 Fourth St. N. W., died Thursday (Nov. 25, 1999) after a courageous battle with cancer at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit, Mason City.

A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday at St. Luke Lutheran Church, 101 N. Hawkeye Ave., Nora Springs, with the Rev. Ruth Hansen officiating. Interment will take place at a later date.

Family will greet friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City.

Memorials may be directed to the Joseph A. Brakel Memorial Fund.

Joseph A. Brakel was born Nov. 1, 1970, in Mason City, to Jimmy and Deborah (Kotz) Brakel. Joe was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church, Mason City, and confirmed at St. Luke Lutheran Church, Nora Springs. He earned a scholarship and attended DeVry Institute in Phoenix, Ariz., studying electronic engineering.

He then entered the U. S. Marine Corp and served for four years. After his honorable discharge, Joe returned to Iowa and became a firefighter with the Cedar Rapids Fire Department.

Joe was a member of St. Luke Lutheran Church. He was an Iowa Hawkeye fan. He enjoyed fishing, snowmobiling and spending time in the outdoors. He was very thankful for his friends with whom he enjoyed a hiking and canoeing trip to the Boundary Waters last summer.

Left to cherish his memory are his parents, Jim and Deb Brakel, Nora Springs; his sister, Jamie Brakel and her special friend, Rob, Farmers Branch, Texas; maternal grandmother, Jane Kotz, Mason City; paternal grandfather, Dale Brakel, Mason City; aunts, Sheryl Nikolas and her husband, Ed, Virginia Beach, Va., and Dana Thompson and her husband, Dave, Osage; cousins, Jason and Monica Nikolas, Virginia Beach, Va., and Jill and Jenna Thompson, Osage; his brothers in the Cedar Rapids Fire Department; and many other friends and relatives.

He was preceded in death by his maternal grandfather, Stanley Kotz, and paternal grandmother, Katherine Ekborg.

Globe Gazette, Nov. 27, 1999