FRESE, George Conrad 1859-c1954

FRESE, GOETTE, HARTWIG, CROWELL, KRAUPA, GRASS, ROICK

Posted By: Marilyn O'Connor (email)
Date: 12/29/2010 at 12:01:44

GEORGE FRESE
DIES AT 95;
RITES TUESDAY

Brief Illness Fatal To
Long-time Resident
Of This Community

George Conrad Frese, 95, one of this community's oldest citizens, died at 11:45 p.m. Friday, May 6 in the home of his son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Crowell. He had been in the Crowell home only since Tuesday; having fallen and broken his wrist Sunday, May 1, in his own home.

Funeral services were held at 2 o'clock Tuesday afternoon May 10-the first funeral to be held in the new St. Luke's Lutheran church. The pastor, the Rev. Amedee Fredette, conducted the rites, and was assisted by the Rev. Jewayne Baumgartner of Dubuque, grandson-in-law of the deceased. Burial was in Park cemetery.

Mr. Frese was born July 15, 1859, at Sauk City, Wisc., one of four children of George and Johannetta (Goette) Frese. He came to Mitchell county, Iowa, when he was 19, and worked on a farm near Osage. He was confirmed in the Lutheran church Sept. 11, 1887.

Wed In 1883

On Oct. 8, 1883, he was married to Margaret Wilhelmina Hartwig. The couple moved to the home of the bride's bachelor brother, John Hartwig, Sr., and Mr. Frese worked for his brother-in-law until the latter was married to Mr. Frese's sister, Ida. The Freses then moved to what is now the Fred Frese farm, and later to the present George Frese farm, both north of Nora Springs, moving into town in 1920.

Six children were born to the couple; three boys and three girls. The youngest boy died in infancy. Mrs. Frese died in 1933; and a daughter, Dora Ida, who had for many years kept house for her father, died in 1951. For the past four years, his two daughters and their husbands, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Crowell and Mr. and Mrs. Roy Kraupa,have alternated spending two-week periods taking care of hime in his home, by this means providing him the solace of spending the last years of his life in his own home.

In addition to his wife, the infant son,and daughter Dora, he was preceded in death by a grandson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Frese; three sisters, Mrs. Charles (Christine) Grass, Mrs. Herman (Bertha) Roick and Mrs. John (Ida) Hartwig; and a brother, Will Frese.

Survivors are four children, Fred Frese, Mrs. Carl (Ruby) Crowell, George Frese Jr., and Mrs. Roy (Margaret) Kraupa; six grandchildren, Clyde Frese of Nora Springs, Mrs. Billie (Lois) Moffet of Waverly, Mrs. James (Nadine) McCombs of Waterloo, Mrs. Jewayne (Vernita) Baumgartner of Dubuque, Arleigh Kraupa of New Richland, Minn. and Creighton Kraupa of Nora Springs; and six great grandchildren: David and Kevin McCombs of Waterloo, Gregory Kraupa of New Richland, Gale and Mavis Kraupa, Nora Springs, and Jeffrey Baumgartner, Dubuque.