WUMKES, Ella 1873-1932

WUMKES, STERNBORG

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 9/7/2015 at 21:52:09

Mrs. Ella Wumkes Dies At Daughter's Home in D. Moines

Funeral services for Mrs. Ella Wumkes of Des Moines were held at the home of her sisters, the Misses Sternborg, in Grundy Center on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 29, at 2 o'clock.

Mrs. Wumkes passed away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Owen Reese, in Des Moines on Oct. 27, 1932. About eight years ago she suffered a stroke oh paralysis from which she never fully recovered.

Mrs. Wumkes was well known in Grundy Center, having spent some time during recent years with her sisters. She also grew to womanhood in the county. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. R. B. Fisher of the First Presbyterian church. Mrs. Jack Souers and Miss Beatrice Petersen sang "Abide with Me" and "No Night There," with Miss Emma Kliebenstein at the piano. Interment was made in the Grundy Center cemetery, the body being brought here by a nephew, Fred Sternborg, Jr., who is an undertaker at Estherville, Iowa. The pallbearers were six nephews: Ben, Al, Ernest and Peter Wumkes of Lincoln Center; Richard Sternborg of Estherville, Iowa, and Dr. P. J. Wumkes of Chicago.

Obituary
Fifty-nine years, ten months and nineteen days ago last Thursday, at Forreston, Ill., a little life opened its eyes upon the world for the first time, and the parents called her name--Ella Margaretha Sternborg.

Her parents moved with her to Grundy county while she was yet but four years of age, in 1876. She grew to young womanhood on a farm in Washington township, Grundy county, and her life companion became John Wumkes, in the year 1892. To their union one daughter, DeElda Marie, was born, who later became Mrs. Owen Reese, Jr. Mr. Wumkes passed away Oct. 3, 1897, and the parents of Mrs. Wumkes both passed beyond in 1915.

Mrs. Wumkes and her daughter moved to Des Moines in 1916. Here the daughter graduated from Highland Park College.

Mrs. Wumkes united with the First Presbyterian church at Grundy Center and later, after moving to Des Moines, her membership was transferred to the Highland Park Presbyterian church, where she was very much interested in the work of the church, Ladies' Aid society and the Berean Sunday School class, until she was afflicted. She was a member of the Royal Neighbor lodge of Grundy Center.

She leaves to bless the world and to miss her present, her daughter and husband, Mr. and Mrs. Owen Reese Jr. and their two children, Eloise and Owen III; her five sisters, Mrs. Fred Sternborg of Estherville, Ia.; Mrs. Johanna Wumkes, of Long Beach, Calif.; and Misses Freda, Catherine and Margaret, all of Grundy Center. Mrs. Wumkes was the first of the six sisters to depart from this world. It was impossible for Mrs. Johanna Wumkes of Long Beach to be present at the funeral. There are quite a number of nieces and nephews and naturally a host of friends and close companions left who knew her to respect and love her.

A large concourse of relatives and friends of Des Moines drove up to attend the funeral.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 3 November 1932, pg 16