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GRIESSE, Walter 1908-1995

GRIESSE, GROTEWOLD, BORMAN, WINTERS

Posted By: Linda (email)
Date: 4/13/2013 at 15:16:25

Walter Griesse, 87, of Rock Rapids died Sunday, Sept. 24, 1995, at Merrill Pioneer community Hospital, Rock Rapids.

Memorial services will be today (Wednesday) at 10:30 a.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Rock Rapids, with inurnment in Riverview Cemetery.

Mr. Griesse was born July 2, 1908, at Rock Rapids. He grew up and attended school at Rock Rapids. After graduating from high school in 1926, he continued his education at Iowa State College, Ames, where he received his teaching certificate. He returned to the Rock Rapids area and began teaching country school.

When he received his first teaching paycheck, in the amount of $80, he purchased a registered Angus heifer. He then began his business life of breeding, raising and showing registered Angus cattle. Over the next 60 years, he would show his prized Angus stock at fairs and be the recipient of many awards and prizes and would often receive grand champion status.

On May 3, 1936, he married Elizabeth Grotewold. Most of their married life was spent at Rock Rapids where they farmed.

His wife died in 1971.

On June 1, 1972, he married Constance Borman at Cherokee. They continued to farming until retiring into Rock Rapids in 1977. However, he maintained his herd of Angus breeding stock even after they moved into town.

Mr. Griesse had served as cattle superintendent of the Lyon County Fair, was a member of the Lyon County Fair Board many years and a 4-H leader. He played several string instruments and sang in barbershop quartets and in the adult choir at church. In 1988, he received the Governor Terry Branstad Volunteer Award for his work in the Northwest Iowa Alcoholism and Drug Treatment Unit’s BABES program.

Survivors include his wife; two sons, Gerald of Harrison, Nebraska and Alan of Brandon, South Dakota; two daughters, Elizabeth and Evelyn Griesse, both of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; three grandchildren, two stepgrandchildren; one stepgreat-grandchild; one brother, Irwin of Rock Rapids, and one sister, Gertrude Winters in southern California.

Lyon County Reporter, Rock Rapids, Iowa, Wednesday, September 27, 1995, page 5.


 

Lyon Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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