Henrich, William J. 1914-2004

HENRICH, HULA, ERICHSEN

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 8/26/2008 at 12:16:04

William 'Bill' Henrich

REMSEN, Iowa -- William J. "Bill" Henrich, 90, of Remsen died Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004, at Happy Siesta Nursing Home in Remsen.

Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in Remsen, with the Rev. Craig D. Miller officiating. Burial will be in Remsen City Cemetery. Visitation will be 3 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, with a prayer service at 7:30 p.m., at the church. Feuerstein Funeral Home of Le Mars, Iowa, is in charge of arrangements.

William J. "Bill" Henrich was born Feb. 3, 1914, at Ellinger, Texas, the son of Walter and Mary (Maria Hula) Henrich. As a child, he and his family moved to Blue Rapids, Kan., where he grew up and attended school.

Bill's father was killed when he was 11 years old, and he was required to quit school and help support the family. When Bill was 14 years old, he and two friends traveled to Wyoming and worked during the summer building roads over the Big Horn Mountains with a mule and slip scrapper. His migration to Iowa came as a result of needing work; he and his brothers, Ted and Jess, picked corn by hand.

Bill came to the Remsen area in 1932. During the 1930s, he also worked in Sioux City at Cohen Wholesale Grocery, Sherman Produce and as a farm laborer in the Remsen area.

Bill married Hilda Emma Erichsen on Feb. 27, 1938, at Christ Lutheran Church in Remsen. They settled north of Remsen, first on a Lang farm and then moved south of Remsen to a Seel farm. In 1949 they moved to a farm in Section 20 of Henry Township, which they eventually owned before retiring in 1986 and moving to Remsen. Bill loved the wide open spaces, working the soil, raising livestock and could create anything from what others had thrown away.

His wife, Hilda passed away in July 2003.

Bill was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Remsen.

Survivors include a son, Gayle and his wife, Susan Henrich of Remsen; two grandsons, C.J. of Remsen, and Jed and his wife, Shayla, and great-granddaughter, Mackenna, all of Mountain Grove, Mo.; three sisters, Elizabeth Gahn, Ruby Broman and Cassie Mather, all of Blue Rapids, Kan.; two brothers and their wives, Jess and Ada of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Clinton and Camelia of Plano, Texas; two brothers-in-law and their wives, George and Shirley Erichsen and Arnold and Arlene Erichsen of Remsen; as well as many nieces and nephews.

In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his parents; three sisters, Susie Buchholtz and Emma Nider of Blue Rapids, Kan., and Rosa Ross of Topeka, Kan.; and a brother, Theodore "Ted" Henrich of Lovell, Wyo.

~Source: The Sioux City Journal--part of the D. Easton Obituary Collection