Gaffey, Mrs. Francis "Bud" (Esther) - 1928-1991

GAFFEY, BOHLKE, KELLEN

Posted By: Linda Vander Linden - Volunteer (email)
Date: 8/29/2010 at 10:52:26

Mrs. Francis "Bud" (Esther) Gaffey, 63. of LeMars, died Saturday, June 29, 1991 at the Embassy Tower Care Center in Sgt. Bluff after a one-month illness.

Services were held Wednesday, July 2 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Remsen. The Rev. John J. McGuirk, pastor, and Monsignor Michael Sernett of LeMars, co-celebrated. Burial was in St. Mary's Cemetery under direction of the Fisch Funeral Home in Remsen.

Mrs. Gaffey, the former Esther Kellen, was born April 12, 1928 rural Alton, the daughter of William F. and Anna (Mairose) Kellen. She was raised in Alton and moved with her parents to the Remsen area in 1939. She graduated from St. Mary's High School in Remsen in 1946 and attended Briar Cliff College in Sioux City for two years. She was employed as a legal secretary in LeMars until her marriage to Milo Bohlke, April 26, 1949 at Remsen. The couple made their home in Remsen, he died May 14, 1971. She married Francis "Bud" Gaffey, Oct. 6, 1984 in Remsen. They made their home in LeMars.

Mrs. Gaffey was a member of St. James Catholic Church in LeMars and Christian Mothers of Remsen.

Survivors include her husband; two sons and their wives, Tim and Lynn Bohlke of Fort Dodge and Mark and Nancee Bohlke of Rosemount, Minn.; three daughters and their husbands, Janet and Lindsay Upchurch of Colo, Iowa, Nancy and Herb Reckinger of Cottage Grove, Minn., and Christine and Mike Way of West Des Moines; two stepsons, Gale Gaffey of St. Paul, Minn.; 12 grandchildren; one brother, Robert Kellen of Remsen; and two sisters, Mrs. Nick (Dorothy) Wanderscheid of Remsen and Mrs. Vernon (Frances) Wess of Fairmont, Minn.

She was preceded in death by her parents; five brothers, William Jr. in infancy and Stanley, Raymond, Vernon and Victor; and three sisters, Mrs. Lee (Florence) Henrich, Mrs. John (Lillian) Gengler and Mrs. Ed (Evelyn) Harmon.

Sioux County Capital, Orange City, July 4, 1991