O'Byrne, Ethel Louise (Herold) 1920 - 2013

OBYRNE, HEROLD, KLIMESH, HEIT, ESCHWEILER, WAGNER

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 12/13/2013 at 13:10:42

Ethel O'Byrne age 93 of New Hampton, Iowa died Saturday, December 7, 2013, at Mercy Medical Center in New Hampton.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, December 11, 2013, at Holy Family Parish - St. Joseph Center, New Hampton with Rev. Mark Osterhaus celebrating the Mass. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery, New Hampton with Linus Voves, Mike Pickar, Virgil Pickar, Bill Busta, Mike Friedhof and Allen Heit serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers are Michael Bartz, George Bouska and Wilfred Walz.

Friends may greet the family 3:00 - 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 10, 2013, at the Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home in New Hampton where there will be a 4:00 p.m. rosary and a 6:30 p.m. parish scripture service. Visitation continues an hour prior to the service at the church on Wednesday.

Ethel Louise O’Byrne was born June 8, 1920, in Spillville, IA, the daughter of Edward and Louise (Klimesh) Herold. She was baptized and confirmed into the Catholic Faith at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Spillville. Ethel attended school in Spillville and then attended high school in Decorah, where she was a 1938 graduate. She then graduated a normal training and began teaching in Winneshiek County rural country schools. She continued her education through the Iowa State Teachers College while teaching first through eighth grade in country school.

She met her future husband, Merle Joseph O’Byrne at a dance in Lawler and on January 10, 1945, the couple were married at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Spillville. They were blessed with two daughters, Jeanne and Carole. Ethel worked as a farm wife and mother while also working as a nurses’ aid at St. Joseph Hospital. She later worked as a cook in the New Hampton High School cafeteria, retiring in 1982.

Ethel loved vegetable and flower gardening and was an accomplished seamstress, sewing clothes for her family and grandchildren. She also quilted and crocheted items for her family. Over the years, she loved many pets and most recently her kitties, “Ole and Holly”. Last but not least, her Czech heritage made her a wonderful cook and baker.

Ethel is survived by her two daughters, Jeanne Marie (Jerry) Heit of New Hampton and Carole Ann O’Byrne of Burnsville, MN; three grandchildren, Scott (Shannon) Heit of Evansdale, IA, Craig (Sara) Heit of Lakeville, MN and Amy (Todd) Eschweiler of Johnston, IA; seven great-grandchildren, Taylor, Nathan, Emma, Greta, Tori, Audrey and Paige.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Merle on March 19, 1991; three brothers, Edward Herold, Lloyd Herold and an infant brother; one sister, Gladys Wagner.

Source: Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home database

Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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