Hertha Rebecca Burow 1917-2007

BUROW, SAILER, KNECKT

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 5/24/2008 at 03:23:00

Sioux City Journal
18 October 2007

Hertha R. Burow
MAPLETON, Iowa -- Hertha R. Burow, 89, of Mapleton died Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007, at a Sioux City hospital.

Services will be 10 a.m. Friday at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Midway, rural Battle Creek, Iowa, with the Rev. Andrew Carlson officiating. Burial will be in St. Paul Cemetery, Midway. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. today, with a prayer service at 7 p.m., at Armstrong Funeral Home in Mapleton.

Hertha Rebecca Sailer was the first daughter of 11 children born to Rudolf and Rebecca (Kneckt) Sailer. She was born at home on Dec. 16, 1917, in rural Zap, N.D. She was baptized and confirmed at the Evangelical Lutheran Church. After graduation from high school, she continued her education at Dickinson College, where she received her teaching certificate. Her first assignment brought her to a small rural township school located on the corner of the Frank Burow farm.

Shortly after her arrival in the summer of 1941, a neighbor suggested to Albert Burow that he meet the new schoolmarm. A three-month old courtship began but was overshadowed by the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the uncertainty of World War II. Therefore the couple were joined in Christian marriage on Dec. 21, 1941, by the Rev. Jones of Dakota City. They spent their first weeks of marriage traveling through a blizzard to meet the relatives. She soon retired from teaching to become a faithful farmer's wife and loving mother of her two children, Betty Jean and Gaylen Albert. She remained an active member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Midway, and spent the last four years of her life as a resident of Maple Heights Care Center in Mapleton.

Her favorite hobbies included sewing, quilting, gardening, baking, reading the Bible and singing Christian hymns.

She continues to be loved and survived by her daughter and her husband, Betty and Bill Ashley of Mapleton; her son and his wife, the Rev. Gaylen and Linda Burow of Bonner Springs, Kan.; and siblings, Alfred (Pat) Sailer of Andover, Minn., Ardella Herrmann of Bealah, N.D., Ruby Iesky of Hazen, N.D., Richard Sailer of Sioux City, Elmer (Linda) Sailer of Bealah, N.D., and Eugene (Eldora) Sailer of Zap, N.D. She was a loving grandmother to Steven Ashley of Hinton, Iowa, Shauna (Tim) Hugen of Mount Airy, Md., Eliza Christian of Nashua, N.H., Emilee Burow of Minneapolis and Evan Burow of Bonner Springs, Kan. She also was a great-grandma to Jessica and Bryan Hugen of Maryland.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Rudolf and Rebecca Sailer; siblings, Irene, Erwin, Reynold and Helen Sailer; and her husband of 65 years.

She died with her children by her side at a Sioux City hospital on Oct. 16, 2007, following a severe stroke. Her kind spirit, strong faith, devotional life and daily prayer will remain a loving memory to her family and friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be directed to Burgess Hospice in Onawa, Iowa.