HARMS, Bertha Jennie (nee Wessels) 1918-2000

HARMS, WESSELS, GEERDES, GRONWOLDT, SCHWARTZ, FESENMEYER

Posted By: Diane Scott (email)
Date: 10/19/2010 at 16:02:46

#1:

Bertha Harms

Funeral services for Bertha Harms of Riceville were held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, January 28 at the Conway Funeral Home in Riceville. The Rev. Edythe Hill officiated. Interment was in Riverside Cemetery. Pall bearers were: Lowell Gillman, Larry Freerksen, Gary Watts, Bill Rankin, David Eastman, Geoffrey Gronwoldt, Shielo Gronwoldt, Dan Murphy, Karla Murphy, Dan Warnke, and Tamyra Gronwoldt. Honorary pall bearers were: Don Dahly, Russell Willis, Marvin Merritt, Maynard Satern, Vince Hemann, Vern Tetzner, Jim Merritt, and Bob Graves.

Bertha, 82, died Tuesday, January 25, 2000 at the Mitchell County Regional Health Center in Osage.

Bertha Jennie Harms was born January 24, 1918 at Johnson, MN, the daughter of Charles and Kate (Geerdes) Wessels. She was baptized June 5, 1920 by Rev. James Friedly at Gracevile, MN in the German Lutheran Church. She was cared for by her dad after losing her mom at the age of two. Around the age of five, they moved to Ackley, and then to Buffalo Center. After losing her dad at age nine, she was cared for at their home by two brothers and a sister. A year or so later, she moved in with an aunt and uncle, until making her home with a cousin’s family.

On October 8, 1935 she married John Harms at the Wesley Parsonage. They lived on rented farms in the Titonka and Buffalo Center area. In March, 1949 they moved to the farm they purchased north of Riceville. Bertha resided at their home until January 24 when she suffered a stroke.

Survivors include one son: Kenneth of Osage; one daughter: Ardith Gronwoldt of LeRoy, MN; six grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and one sister: Mae Schwartz of Swea City.
Bertha was preceded in death by her husband John on June 30, 1992; one daughter: Rhadora Fesenmeyer; two grandchildren; one great-grandchild; her parents; three brothers: John, Ralph, and Carl Wessels; and three sisters: Elsie Blood, Katherine Gillman, and Katherine’s infant twin sister.

[Clear Lake Mirror Reporter, January 2000]

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#2:
Bertha Harms

Funeral services for Bertha Harms of Riceville were held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, January 28 at the Conway Funeral Home in Riceville. The Rev. Edythe Hill officiated. Interment was in Riverside Cemetery. Pall bearers were: Lowell Gillman, Larry Freerksen, Gary Watts, Bill Rankin, David Eastman, Geoffrey Gronwoldt, Shielo Gronwoldt, Dan Murphy, Karla Murphy, Dan Warnke, and Tamyra Gronwoldt. Honorary pall bearers were: Don Dahly, Russell Willis, Marvin Merritt, Maynard Satern, Vince Hemann, Vern Tetzner, Jim Merritt, and Bob Graves.

Bertha, 82, died Tuesday, January 25, 2000 at the Mitchell County Regional Health Center in Osage.

Bertha Jennie Harms was born January 24, 1918 at Johnson, MN, the daughter of Charles and Kate (Geerdes) Wessels. She was baptized June 5, 1920 by Rev. James Friedly at Gracevile, MN in the German Lutheran Church. She was cared for by her dad after losing her mom at the age of two. Around the age of five, they moved to Ackley, and then to Buffalo Center. After losing her dad at age nine, she was cared for at their home by two brothers and a sister. A year or so later, she moved in with an aunt and uncle, until making her home with a cousin’s family.

On October 8, 1935 she married John Harms at the Wesley Parsonage. They lived on rented farms in the Titonka and Buffalo Center area. In March, 1949 they moved to the farm they purchased north of Riceville. Bertha resided at their home until January 24 when she suffered a stroke.

Survivors include one son: Kenneth of Osage; one daughter: Ardith Gronwoldt of LeRoy, MN; six grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and one sister: Mae Schwartz of Swea City.

Bertha was preceded in death by her husband John on June 30, 1992; one daughter: Rhadora Fesenmeyer; two grandchildren; one great-grandchild; her parents; three brothers: John, Ralph, and Carl Wessels; and three sisters: Elsie Blood, Katherine Gillman, and Katherine’s infant twin sister.

[Cresco Times-Plain Dealer]