Graff, Irene (Mrs. Milo) 1911-1995

GRAFF, DOWNS, OMEARA

Posted By: Paul Van Dyke--Volunteer
Date: 2/4/2017 at 16:34:18

Source: Sioux County Capital (4-27-1995)

Born: November 13, 1911
Died: April 22. 1995

Mrs. Milo (Irene) Graff, age 83, of Granville, died inexpertly Saturday, April 22, 1995 at the Happy Siesta Retirement Home in Remsen.

Funeral services were held at 10:30 A.M. Tuesday, April 25, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Granville. Reverend Clem Currans officiated. Burial was in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, Granville, with the Fisch Funeral Home, Remsen, in charge of arrangements.

Irene was born November 13, 1911 at rural McNally in Sioux County to James and Johanna (Downs) O’Meara. She was raised in the McNally area and attended rural school in the Ireton area. She graduated from St. Mary’s Academy at Alton in 1929. She then attended State Teachers College at Cedar Falls, and taught rural school near Ireton until her marriage to Milo Graff on January 2, 1934 at Hawarden. They farmed near Granville. She resumed her teaching career in the late 1950s, teaching at Calumet, St. Mary’s-Remsen and later St. Joseph’s in Granville. She retired in the late 1970s. The couple moved into Granville in 1966. Mr. Graff died February 15, 1972. She had been a resident of the Happy Siesta Retirement Home in Remsen since March 9, 1995.

She was a member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and the Guild, Christian Mothers, Catholic Daughters of America, V.F.W. Auxiliary, past president of the Granville Senior Citizens, and past member of the Granville Town Council. For several years she was a correspondent for several local newspapers.

She is survived by four daughters: Patricia and her husband Don Schiltz, Remsen; Mrs. Gene (Mary Ellen) Heying, Granville; Jolene and her husband Ted DeVries, Dakota Dunes, South Dakota; and Juliann and her husband Mark Dehner, Las Vegas, Nevada; four sons, Kenneth and his wife Lois Graff, Lake City; Bruce of Decorah; Eugene and his wife Linda Graff, Spring Hills, Florida; and Milo and his wife Jeannie Graff, Alton; a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Douglas (JoAnn) Graff, Holstein; 35 grandchildren; seven step-grandchildren; 34 great-grandchildren; four sisters, Mrs. Ben (Eva) Conway, Fullerton, California; Mrs. Ed (Catherine) LaVelle, Sioux City; Mrs. Paul (Josephine) Brandy, Dallas, Texas; and Mrs. Conrad (Pauline) Petterson, Wichita, Kansas; and two brothers, John and his wife Mary O’Meara, DeKalb, Illinois, and Bob O’Meara, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

She was preceded in death by three sons, John, Douglas and Phillip in infancy; four great-grandchildren; a son-in-law, Gene Heying; Four sisters, Mrs. Tony (Durette) Ney, Mrs. John (Bess) Leonberger, Mrs. Carl (Helen) Dunkerson and Mrs. Norbert (Cecelia) Goergen; and five brothers, Francis, Clint, Leonard, Mike and Paul O’Meara. Casket bearers were her grandsons.