Nilles, George P. 1925-2002

NILLES, KRIEPS, WARLAND, JORGENSEN

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 4/18/2009 at 18:32:21

REMSEN, Iowa -- George P. Nilles, 76, of Remsen died Friday, Aug. 30, 2002, at Happy Siesta Health Care Center in Remsen.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Monday at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Remsen, with the Rev. Tim Johnson officiating. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery. Visitation will be after 2 p.m. Sunday, with a parish rosary at 3 p.m., a vigil prayer service at 7:30 p.m. and a Catholic Order of Foresters rosary at 8 p.m., all at Fisch Funeral Home in Remsen.

Mr. Nilles was born Nov. 14, 1925, in rural Remsen, the son of Peter and Olga (Krieps) Nilles. he was raised in the Remsen area and received his education at St. Mary's Catholic School in Remsen. He then engaged in farming with his parents near Remsen and operated a mechanic shop on the farm. In 1953, he purchased the Conoco gas station in Remsen, which then became George's Conoco, where he also operated a repair shop.

On Feb. 15, 1958, he married Phyllis Warland Jorgensen in Remsen. The couple made their home in Remsen, where he continued to operate his business. They also operated the Bruning Drive Inn in Remsen for two years. In the early 1960s, he sold the gas station and built a new repair shop on the northeast edge of Remsen, which he operated until 1974, when they moved to Dodge Center, Minn. In 1987, they moved to an acreage south of Remsen, where he operated Nilles Repair. They moved into Remsen in the fall of 1998. Phyllis died Dec. 21, 2001.

He was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and Catholic Order of Foresters. He was very active in volunteer work in St. Mary's parish in maintaining the cemetery and other parish grounds.

Survivors include four stepdaughters, Sharon Hensen of Ogden, Utah, Peggy and her husband, Larry Sanow and Sandy and her husband, Tom Augustine, all of Remsen, and Royetta Jorgensen of Sioux City; a stepson and his wife, Phillip and Val Jorgensen of Rochester, Minn.; 15 stepgrandchildren; 22 great-stepgrandchildren; two sisters, Betty Nilles of Remsen, and Clarice Bainbridge of Kingsley, Iowa; and six brothers and their wives, Dennis and Bev and Mark and Jean, all of Brunsville, Iowa, Stanley and Shirley of Kingsley, Peter "Bud" and Judy and Tony and Julie, all of Le Mars, Iowa, and Lorne and Florence of Remsen.

In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters, Ruth Grage and Marcella Hansen.

Pallbearers will be Bob and Ed Augustine, Joshua Jorgensen, Dan and Lee Nilles and Cory Weiler. Honorary pallbearers will be Joe Gengler, Walter Nilles and Irvin and Silverius Schroeder. Catholic Order of Foresters honorary pallbearers will be Steve Bunkers, Mark Harnack, Donald Konz, Donald Ortmann, Fred Roling and Mark Sudtelgte.

~Source: The Sioux City Journal, part of the Darrell E. Obituary Collection