Karolee Wirt

WIRT, COOPER, JONES, LECKNER, SNYDER

Posted By: Skipton
Date: 12/31/2010 at 23:38:48

Source: The Columbus Gazette

Karolee Wirt, 70, of Columbus Junction, Iowa, passed away on Sunday, December 26, 2010, at Colonial Manor in Columbus Junction. Funeral services for Karolee will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 30, 2010 at the Columbus Junction United Presbyterian Church. Rev. Faye Fedlam and Nancy Oehler-Love will officiate. Burial will be in the Cambrian Cemetery. Casket bearers will be Bob Davis, Bill Edwards, Randy Vincent, Gary Rees, Jim Rees, and Tom Howell. Honorary casket bearers will be Harold Rees. Following the committal services at the cemetery, a time of food and fellowship will be held at the Columbus City Masonic Hall. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, December 29, from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at the Stacy-Lewis Home for Funeral and Cremation Services. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Sympathy notes may be left to the family at www.lewisfuneralhomes.com.

Karolee Wirt was born on March 29, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Albert Byrd and Virginia Lee (Copper) Wirt. In February of 1958, Karolee graduated from Western High School in Baltimore, Maryland. She worked 18 years as a teller, branch manager and savings department head at Central Savings Bank in Baltimore, Maryland. As a member of Lakeland Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland, Karolee served as elder, trustee, and church school teacher. In May 1979, Karolee graduated from Westminster College, New Willington, Pennsylvania with a Greek and History double major. Then Karolee graduated from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in May of 1984. In February of 1985, Karolee became the minister at Cotter and Salem Presbyterian Churches in rural Columbus Junction and was ordained as Minster to world and Sacrament on March 29, 1985, at Lakeland Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland. On August 26, 1986, Karolee married Richard L. Jones, a member and elder of the Cotter Congregation, at Winfield Presbyterian Church in Winfield, Iowa. Karolee and Richard resided at his family farm until he retired.

After Karolee’s marriage, she served on several committees of the Presbytery of East Iowa, took a 3rd training course for hospital Chaplains at the University of Iowa Hospital, Interim training for ministers, and preached in 26 churches as pulpit supply. She enjoyed preaching, being a hospital Chaplain as well as meeting new challenges. In February of 2006, Karolee was given honorable retirement from East Iowa Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church USA.

Karolee enjoyed history, translating Greek, Hebrew and Latin, living on the farm in rural Columbus Junction with her husband, Richard, and traveling in the United States. Karolee appreciated the mountains, rolling hills and seashore of Maryland and Virginia and the wonders of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont as well as the beauty of the prairie in Iowa and Midwest states to the Rocky Mountains and Canada.

Karolee will be dearly missed by her husband, Richard of Columbus Junction; sisters, Ellen Leckner and her husband, Charles and Mary Snyder and her husband, Charles (Jack); 5 nieces, 2 nephews, and 9 great nieces and nephews, all who live in Maryland or Virginia. Other survivors are cousins, Peggy Potthast of Baltimore, Maryland and Fran Duly of Cary, North Carolina, John Potthast of Rehoboth, Maryland, cousins Wayne Cooper and Howard Copper as well as their spouses and children, cousin Debra Cooper Camjeo of Connecticut, Copper – French cousins in Pennsylvania and Missouri.

Karolee was preceded in death by her parents.