DIEKEN, Hiemke 1852-1944

DIEKEN, DIRKS

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 4/5/2017 at 16:13:03

Mrs. D. J. Dieken, 92, Died Wed. In Her Sleep

Was 92 Years Old And The Oldest Person In Grundy Center; Resided In Grundy County 69 Years

Mrs. D. J. Dieken, the oldest person in Grundy Center, died in her sleep at her home in Grundy Center about ten o'clock Wednesday forenoon. She had been up in the morning and shortly after she had finished her breakfast she went back to her bed again for a nap, as had been her custom. Her daughter, Mrs. W. H. Bakker, found her there a short time later. She had peaceably passed from this world to the next. She would have been 92 years old had she lived until the 18th of this month.

Last spring Mrs. Dieken suffered a stroke which partially disabled her. She however retained her mental faculties and her mind and her memory remained clear up to the last.

Was a Native of Germany
Mrs. Dieken was born in Emden, Germany, November 18, 1852. Her maiden name was Heimke Dirks. She was the oldest of a family of six children. She outlived them all. She was the only daughter in the family.

The Dirks family came to America when the daughter Heimke was 18. They located on a farm near Forreston, Ill., where they remained five years. In 1875 the father and mother and the six children came from Illinois to Grundy county and they made this their permanent home. The family located on a farm in Lincoln township on which for many years the Otto Dirks family lived. They remained there until most of the children married and established homes of their own.

Heimke Dirks and D. J. Dieken were married March 2, 1877. They began housekeeping on a rented farm in Lincoln township, where they lived for two years, after which they bought a farm of their own 4 1/2 miles north of Grundy Center, which remained their permanent home as long as they remained on the farm. Thirty-three years ago they left the farm and moved to Grundy Center where they bought a home in which both of them died. Mr. Dieken died on April 11, 1927 a little more than a month after the couple had observed their golden wedding anniversary. Following the death of her husband and helpmate of more than a half-century, Mrs. Dieken lived alone in her home until five years ago when her daughter and husband, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Bakker, came to make their home with her.

The children, grandchildren and the great-grandchildren of the six members of the Dirks family who came to Grundy county 69 years ago have branched out into a very large family three. The brothers who preceded Mrs. Dieken in death were Otto, Henry, E. H., Con and Jans. All spent their active lives in Grundy county.

Surviving are two daughters and one son. The daughters are Mrs. Walter H. Bakker, Grundy Center, and Mrs. S. E. Schmitt, Dike. The surviving son, D. D. Dieken, lives in Grundy Center. Two of the children preceded the mother in death. They are Mrs. Henry Petersen, who died in 1928, and Jurgen, the oldest of the family of children, who died eight years ago. There are 17 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at the home at two o'clock Saturday afternoon and later at the Bethany Presbyterian church, of which Mrs. Dieken had been a member since March 14, 1912, having transferred her membership from the Colfax Center Presbyterian church. Rev. F. J. Langenberg will have charge of the service. Burial will be in the family lot in the Colfax Center Presbyterian church cemetery.

--The Grundy Republican (Grundy Center, Iowa), 2 November 1944, pg 1