Fokken, Emma "Emily" 1908-2003

FOKKEN, BEHRENS

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/7/2007 at 21:33:03

KINGSLEY, Iowa -- Emma "Emmy" Fokken, 95, of Kingsley died Tuesday, May 20, 2003, at the Kingsley Nursing and Rehab Center.

Services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at Rohde-Earnest Funeral Home in Kingsley, with the Rev. Paul Evans officiating. Burial will be in Kingsley Cemetery. Visitation will be after 2 p.m. Friday, with the family present 5 to 7 p.m., at the funeral home.

Emma was born April 9, 1908, in Appen, Germany, the daughter of Carl and Dorothy Behrens, where she lived until 1923, when she came to the United States with her brother, Fritz Behrens. they arrived at Ellis Island in New York, after which they came to the Remsen, Iowa area and later moved to the Kingsley area.

After living and working in the area, she met and married Bill Fokken, who was also her brother-in-law, in Sioux City in 1927. After their marriage, the couple farmed and lived in the Kingsley area for many years. Her husband, Bill, died in 1974. After her husband's death, she and her son, Kenneth, moved to Kingsley where they lived next door to her only sister, Dora.

Emma was known as "Tanta Emma" by her many nieces and nephews. She was well known for raising chickens, huge vegetables and her flower gardens. She enjoyed canning food and providing her neighbors with food. She was fond of baking cookies and white cake. She was a member of Congregational United Church of Christ in Kingsley.

Survivors include her son, Kenneth Fokken of Kingsley; two granddaughters, Renee of Sioux City and Colette of California; two great-grandsons, Jacob and Josh of California; her former daughter-in-law, Marilyn Fowler of Lawton, Iowa; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Bill; a sister, Dora; and four brothers.

~source: The Sioux City Journal