NEESSEN, Closka 1863-1956

NEESSEN, RAH

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 1/27/2015 at 21:29:20

Oldest Wellsburg Resident, Mrs. W. T. Neessen, Dead

Funeral services were held at 2:15 p.m. Friday at the Wellsburg Reformed church for Mrs. Walter T. Neessen, 93, the town's oldest resident, who passed away at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at her home due to complications of her advanced age.

Rev. George Poppen was in charge of the service. Casketbearers were Carl Young, Dick Dickenson, Henry Weitkamp, Robert Lawson, Clarence Nichols and Keith Baker.

Music was furnished by Sheryl Lutterman and JoAnn Ohling, while Marcella Neessen was organist. Flower attendants were Mrs. A. W. Meyer and Mrs. H. L. Luwe.

Burial was in the Reformed church cemetery.

Obituary
Closka Rah was born February 8, 1863, during the peak of the Civil War at German Valley, Ill., the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tjark Rah.

She accompanied her parents to Iowa with other early settlers in 1869 at the age of six. Closka was to live the next 87 years in this area, making her one of our oldest longtime residents.

On October 10, 1888, at the age of 25 she was united in marriage with Walter T. Neessen at Eldora. The couple lived 10 years at Steamboat Rock following their marriage, then came to Wellsburg in 1898 where Mr. Neessen operated a mercantile business until he retired in 1923.

The couple were blessed with two children, Ben and Earl, both of whom preceded her in death.

Mrs. Neessen was a member of the Wellsburg Reformed church and the Ladies' Aid Society of that church. She tried to do her very best to attend church services and often during her last years, though it took a great deal of effort, she still tried to be present in church.

Grandma Neessen, as she was often called, had many friends and always loved to play and talk to the children. She was loved by many near and far.

She became quite feeble in her late years, but still tried to be as active. Earlier this year she fell at her home, and was taken to the Grundy County Memorial Hospital, where it was first thought she had broken her hip.

Her death severed one of the final links we have with the men and women who were in business in Wellsburg before the turn of the century. Thus another era comes to an end.

Mrs. Neessen is survived by two daughters-in-law, Mrs. Ben Neessen of Wellsburg and Mrs. Earl Neessen of Tipton. She also leaves three grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and a host of relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, who died in 1932, and two sons, Ben and Earl.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 14 June 1956, pg 10