Meta "Matie" (Griepenburg) Kohnke 1887-1949

KOHNKE, GRIEPENBURG, LOPAU, MAASS

Posted By: Linda Mohning (email)
Date: 3/29/2011 at 21:07:50

Mrs. O. J. Kohnke.
Mrs. Otto J. Kohnke, Remsen, Gold Star mother, passed away November 24, 1949, at Rochester, Minnesota, after a long illness. She was 61 years old.
Funeral services were held Monday (today) at 1:30 p.m. at the Moeller Funeral Home and later at St. Paul's Evangelical Church with Rev. Wuebben officiating. Burial was in Remsen city cemetery.
Matie [Griepenburg] Kohnke was born in Germany on December 31, 1887 and came to America with her parents in December 1892. She was married to Otto Kohnke on Febraury 23, 1911, at Remsen. They resided on farms in the Remsen vicinity until 1943 when they retired to town.
She was preceeded in death by her only son, Raymond, who was killed in action on March 26, 1944 in the Solomon Islands during World War II.
Survivors include her husband, Otto; one sister: Mrs. Lopau of Kingsley; and two brothers: M.M. Griepenburg and F. D. Griepenburg of Remsen.
Pall bearers were Norbert Ahmann, Art Kunkel, Joe Neihus, Ott Kroeger, Merle Tonsfeldt, Hans Borm, Bill Benjegerdes and Hans Sonnichsen.
Moeller Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. - Le Mars Globe Post, Nov 28, 1949, page 3, colum 6

Mrs. Otto J. Kohnke Well-Known Remsen Woman Died Nov. 24.
After years of failing health and a final two-month period of hospitalization, Mrs. Otto J. Kohnke, 62, a member of the Remsen community for more than half a century, passed away on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, in Rochester, Minn.
The daughter of F.W. and Ettje Griepenburg, Mattie Griepenburg was born Dec. 31, 1887, at Holte, Ostfriesland, Germany.
At the age of five years, in 1892, she came with the family to the United States and directly to Remsen. The Griepenburgs rented a farm six miles southeast of Remsen for one year, then bought a farm 11 miles south of Remsen in the Kingsley trade area. There the family was reared.
Matie Griepenburg lived with her parents until her marriage, Feb 23, 1911, to Otto J. Kohnke.
Mr. and Mrs. Kohnke settled on the Henry Maass farm six miles southeast of Remsen, lived there eight years, then bought a farm four miles southwest of Remsen where they lived until their retirement in the spring of 1945. They left the farm upon the loss of their only child, Raymond, who lost his life at the hands of a Japanese sniper while serving with a combat engineers' group on Bougainville in the South Pacific March 26, 1944.
Mrs. Kohnke is survived by her widower, a sister and two brothers, Mrs. Julius C. Lopau, Kingsley, and M.M. Griepenburg and F. K Griepenburg of Remsen. An infant brother preceded her in death many years ago.
Mrs. Kohnke for many years was a staunch member of St. Paul's Evanagelical Lutheran congregation, active in church affairs until failing health overtook her.
The Rev. Paul Wuebben of St. Paul's church conducted services in the Moeller funeral home at 1:30, followed by church services and burial in the Remsen cemetery." - Le Mars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, December 6, 1949, page 5, column 2.