GERDES, Helene 1878-1945

GERDES, BRANDT, COATS, WEITZE

Posted By: Marilyn O'Connor (email)
Date: 1/9/2011 at 13:40:23

Mrs. Gerdes Dies
Only 13 Days After
Husband's Death

Paralytic Strokes
Are Fatal To Farm Wife;
Burial at Sheffield

After traveling down life's highway for nearly forty-five years hand in hand, Mr. and Mrs. George Gerdes were separated by death for only 13 days. On the morning of Aug. 17, both were enjoying their usual good health and had been occupied with their accustomed duties about their farm two and a half miles southwest of Nora Springs. That afternoon a heart attack proved fatal to Mr. Gerdes, 75.

The shock of her husband's sudden death was apparently too great for Mrs. Gerdes who suffered a very severe paralytic stroke Monday morning, Aug. 27, and a second similar stroke Tuesday afternoon, after which she failed to regain consciousness until her death at 8:50 Thursday morning, Aug. 30. Her grief over the death of their son, Pfc. David Gerdes, killed in action on Saipan, Japan June 25, 1944, had been so great as to have a noticible effect on her health since that time.

Funeral arragements were similar to those for Mr. Gerdes on Aug. 22. The rites for Mrs. Gerdes were held in the Grace Baptist church at Sheffield at 2 o'clock Sun. afternoon, following brief services at the Gerdes home at 1 o'clock. The pastor of the church, the Rev. Liman Church, conducted the funeral and she was buried in Hillside cemetery, north of Sheffield, at the side of her husband.

Born Helene Brandt in Oldenburg, Germany, Dec. 18, 1878,she observed her 67th birthday last winter. She came to the United States with her parents Frederick and Anna Brandt, when she was six years of age and the family settled near Rockwell. She lived on the same farm there for 47 years, including 34 years as the wife of George D. Gerdes, to whom she was married on Dec. 19, 1900. They moved to Nora Springs 10 years ago.

Ten children were born to them, four of whom preceded their parents in death. One daughter died in infancy; another, Mrs. Esther Coats, 28, died Jan. 2, 1936; Edward,13, died June 2, 1929, and Pf. David Gerdes, 30,gave his life for his country a year ago.

She is survived by five children, Ernest and Walter at home, Fred and Albert Gerdes of Sheffield, and Sgt. Ivan Gerdes, whose last visit home was in July 1943, and who has been overseas since August 1943. He is now located in Italy, where a request for a furlough at the time of his father's death was denied. There is also one daughter, (Helen) Mrs. Roger Weitze of Nora Springs; two granddaughters, Darlene Coats and Phyliss Ann Weitze; and one brother, Gerhard Brandt of Milbank, S. Dak.

(1945)