Alesch, Clara 1913-2002

ALESCH, GRAAS, HEIDESCH

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, Volunteer (email)
Date: 4/13/2007 at 12:40:31

MARCUS, Iowa -- Clara Alesch, 89, of Marcus died Thursday, Sept. 5, 2002, at Heartland Care Center in Marcus.

Services will be 2 p.m. Sunday at Holy Name Catholic Church in Marcus, with the Rev. Richard Remmes officiating. Burial will be in Holy Name Cemetery. Visitation will be after 3 p.m. today, with a rosary at 4 p.m. and a vigil service at 8 p.m., at Earnest and Roethler Funeral Chapel in Marcus. Visitation will resume one hour prior to the service Sunday at the church.

Mrs. Alesch, the former Clara Jean Graas, was born March 28, 1913, north of Remsen, Iowa, the daughter of Michael and Anna (Heidesch) Graas. She moved to Marquis, Saskatchewan, Canada, with her family at the age of 3. She attended rural school in Canada and returned to the Remsen area when she was 25 years old.

She married Leo J. Alesch on Nov. 26, 1940, at Holy Name Catholic Church in Marcus. They farmed west of town on the Alesch family home farm for 30 years. They built a home in Marcus in 1970. They enjoyed 10 years of extensive traveling both in the states and abroad and had visited every continent except Antarctica. Mr. Alesch died Nov. 30, 1981.

She was a member of Holy Name Catholic Church, St. Ann's Guild, Catholic Daughters of America and the Neighborhood Club. She was devoted to her family and enjoyed baking, canning and crocheting.

Survivors include five daughters, Leone Sand of Marcus, Joanne and her husband, Tom Corcoran of Whitefish Bay, Wis., Joyce and her husband, Larry Keffeler of Ukiah, Calif., Mary Fran and her husband, Dennis Blasberg of Clive, Iowa, and Corinne Alesch of Sioux City; 13 grandchildren, Diane and her husband, Charles Gipe, Brenda and her husband, Mark Munkelwitz, Susan and her husband, Dan Zenk, Rebecca Sand, David Corcoran, Anne Marie Corcoran, Matthew and his wife, Jamie Corcoran, Daniel Corcoran, Ben and his wife, Teresa Keffeler, Melissa Keffeler, Tim Keffeler, Keith Blasberg and Elisabeth Blasberg; 11 great-grandchildren; a brother and his wife, Alex and May Graas of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada; two sisters-in-law, Helen Graas of Victoria, B.C., Canada, and Evelyn Alesch of San Jose, Calif.; and a brother-in-law, Ulric Waldenberger of Moose Jaw.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Mary Waldenberger; and two brothers, Henry and Paul Graas.

[Part of the Darrell Easton Obituary Collection; source: Sioux City Journal]