Buddenberg, Gretchen Marlene (Gruhn ) -- 1934 - 2000

GRUHN, SCHAAR, BUDDENBERG, HOLDSWORTH, CLESIL, KEEN, HARTMANN, CSILLAG, BOUSKA

Posted By: IA GenWeb Volunteer
Date: 6/8/2010 at 16:39:56

Decorah Journal, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2001.

Gretchen Buddenberg

Gretchen Buddenberg, 66, of Postville, died Dec. 31, 2000 at the Good Samaritan Center of Postville.

Funeral services were held Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 11 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in Castalia with Pastor Verdon Swenson officiating.

Soloists were Beverly Hartson and Karel Rawson. Florence Albright was
the pianist.

Casket bearers were Allen Ellickson, Alan Johnson, Randy Buddenberg,
Bobby Fischer, Bobby Gruhn and Robert Bodensteiner.

Honorary Casket bearers were Steve and Ann Bushman, Henry and Lorraine Monroe, Jr., Jeff and Regina Kipp, Karel and Joyce Rawson, Vernon and Beverly Hartson, Cloy and Bonnie Meyer, Gilbert and Dorothy Livingood, Cathy Meyer, Don and Judy Hunt, Lolita Engelhardt, Beverly Cowles and Rodney and Irene Buddenberg.

Burial was in the Pleasant View Cemetery, with Schutte Funeral and Cremation Service of Postville handling arrangements.

Gretchen Marlene Gruhn was born June 19, 1934 on a farm near Postville to Fred W. Gruhn and Else Schaar Gruhn. Her parents and four sisters came from Germany in 1921.

She was raised northeast of Postville where the Gruhn family had settled in
1935. She attended West Grove School near her home and then transferred to Postville High School.

On Oct. 28, 1950 she was married to Davis W. Buddenberg at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Postville, where she had been both baptized and confirmed.

The couple had five children and lived on the family farm for almost 35 years. They then moved to Castalia and for three years lived in what was formerly the Castalia School, building a home in Castalia and living there for four years. In the summer of 1998 they sold their home and purchased a condominium in Decorah.

After the couple retired from farming, Gretchen Buddenberg took classes at Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar, including Food Service Supervisor, First Responder, and Nurses and Medical Aide. She also received her GED in Calmar.

She always said she didn't have any hobbies, but that her work was her hobby. Gretchen Buddenberg enjoyed working in the nursing home and was very proud of her job on the farm. She and her husband worked as a team, doing chores, milking cows, and being home when the children came home from school.

A member of Zion Lutheran Church and the WELCA in Castalia, Gretchen Buddenberg served as President of the WELCA and Circle Chairman.

She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Aase Haugen Home for three years, and president of the Winneshiek County Retarded Citizens Board.

Surviving Gretchen Buddenberg are her husband, Davis Buddenberg, her children, Natalie Buddenberg of Decorah; Michael and Ann Buddenberg of Castalia; Cathy and John Holdsworth of Monroe, Iowa and Matthew and
Heidi Buddenberg of Decorah.

Additional survivors include six grandchildren: Rachel and Kerri Bouska, Dereck and Lindsey Buddenberg and Miranda and Dylan Holdsworth; two brothers, Robert and Beverly Gruhn of West Union and Paul and Lillian Gruhn of Cedar Rapids, and two sisters, Edith Clesil of Decorah and Lottie Keen of Ocean Grove, NJ.

Gretchen Marlene Buddenberg was preceded in death by her parents, Fred and Else Gruhn, two sisters, Anna Gruhn Hartmann and Martha Gruhn Csillag, a daughter, Deborah Jean Buddenberg Bouska, a son-in-law, James Dale Bouska, her mother and father-in-law, Webb and Louella Buddenberg, and two grandchildren.

Transcribed by an IA GenWeb Volunteer from obituaries found in the Howard-Winneshiek Genealogy Society Library, Cresco, Iowa.