Wentz, Friedericka (Busch) (Reif) 1860-1929

REIF, BUSCH, WENTZ

Posted By: Linda Mohning, volunteer (email)
Date: 6/16/2012 at 14:57:15

OLD REMSEN RESIDENT DIES AT EAGLE GROVE. Mrs. Friedericka Wentz Passes at Home of Son Thursday – Funeral Sunday.
Another early day resident of Remsen passed away to the Great Beyond last week when Mrs. Friedericka Wentz, who lived at Remsen for many years up to a few years ago, died at the home of her son, Frank Reif, in Eagle Grove, Iowa, the Remsen Bell-Enterprise relates. She was 69 years old. She had been in failing health for a number of years, and had submitted to an operation the day before the end came. The body was brought to Remsen for burial, the funeral taking place Sunday afternoon.
Mrs. Wentz had been ailing for several years and was the victim of several paralytic strokes which enhanced her sufferings and made her almost an invalid. Other complication arose during recent weeks, and last Wednesday, at the home of her son, she submitted to an operation, from which she never rallied. The end came on Thursday morning.
Deceased was born July 16, 1860, at Syracuse, N.Y., a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Busch. The family moved to Chicago 13 years later and lived there for many years. In Chicago she was united in marriage to Henry Reif, and in 1881, they moved to Neligh, Neb. In 1889 they came to Remsen and made this their home for many years. Mr. Reif passed away in 1896, while a resident here. To this union two children were born, named Frank Reif, of Willard Wash. In 1900 Mrs. Reif was united in marriage to Samuel Wentz, a pioneer Remsen business man, who preceded her in death, passing away in 1922. Shortly after his death Mrs. Wentz moved to Sioux City to make her home with her step-daughter, Mrs. George Meiterstein, and for the past two years she had been making her home with her son in Eagle Grove. – Le Mars Globe Post, Friday, Nov. 14, 1929, page 15.

Note: Friedericka doesn’t appear to have a gravestone in the Remsen cemetery, however, she purchased lot 106 in Block 1 East at the time of her first husband’s death. Although she married again to Samuel Wentz, it is likely that she is buried next to her first husband, Henry Reif, in the lot she, herself, purchased.