Thies, Emily A. (Hansen) 1932-2002

THIES, HANSEN, FROST

Posted By: volunteer (email)
Date: 8/7/2005 at 15:51:17

PELLA - Emily A. Thies, 69, of Pella, died Friday, March 8, at Pella Regional Health Center.

Her funeral service will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Peace Lutheran Church in Pella, the Rev. Mark Pries officiating, the Rev. Kim Wills assisting. Burial: Oakwood Cemetery in Pella. Memorials may be designated. Visiting hours are open today at Van Dyk-Duven Funeral Home in Pella until 4 p.m. The family will greet visitors 6:30-8:30 p.m. today at the church.

Emily Ann Hansen was born Sept. 4, 1932, in Minneapolis, Minn., to Edwin and Thyra Frost Hansen. She grew up in Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan. She graduated from Muskegon High School in Muskegon, Mich., and graduated from Western Michigan University with a major in elementary education and a minor in home economics.

She married Rudy Thies on Aug. 9, 1953. She taught at Maple Grove Elementary School in Muskegon until their first child was born in 1957. She did substitute teaching during her children's preschool years, and continued substitute teaching when the family moved to Pella in 1966. In 1973, she began teaching full-time at Lincoln Elementary in Pella, and retired in 1992.

Emily was a charter member of Peace Lutheran Church in Pella and a member of the choir. She and Rudy often traveled to visit their out-of-town children, her sisters and other relatives. She attended many of her grandchildren's sporting events, especially cross country.

She loved entertaining and often extended her hospitality to college students, church members and visitors, friends and neighbors. She and Rudy traveled in the United States and abroad. Emily loved music and watching old musicals. She was a talented seamstress. She enjoyed playing Chinese checkers, baking cookies, and coloring and reading with her grandchildren.

She is survived by her husband, Rudy; their son and daughter-in-law, Thom Thies and Beverly Hull and their sons Will and James of Watkinsville, Ga.; two daughters and sons-in-law: Kathy and Steve Ter Louw and their children Ryan, Erika and Andrew of Pella, and Nancy and Paul Van Farowe and their children Annika and Daniel of Fort Collins, Colo.; two sisters and a brother-in-law: Doris Elaine Pranks of Oxford, Ohio, and Ardythe Mae and Paul Bulthouse of Spring Lake, Mich.; a stepbrother, Jim Erickson of Minneapolis, Minn.; and seven nieces and nephews.

The Oskaloosa Herald, March 12, 2002