Wolfe, Gladys Marie Edith (Hertges) 1930 - 2018

WOLFE, HERTGES, ZWEIBOHMER, GRANT, BERKA, BERITSOS, JACKSON, NESTEBY, MADRIGAL, WELSCH, TAYLOR, CARTER, BURNETT, PETERSON, HOUDEK, GRAF, GRENKO, BARNES, KLEE, SUNDRY, HAWKINS, BUCHEIT

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/21/2018 at 11:46:56

Gladys Marie (Hertges) Wolfe passed away peacefully on Saturday, April 14th, 2018, at the Aase Haugen Home in Decorah, Iowa, at the age of 88, which was also her birthday. Her cause of death was related to Parkinson’s disease.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 18th, 2018 at St. Benedict Catholic Church in Decorah with Rev. Phillip Gibbs officiating. Burial will be in St. Benedict Cemetery immediately following the church service. A luncheon has been planned for all to attend, immediately following the burial, at the Steyer Opera House in the Hotel Winneshiek on Water Street in Decorah.

Visitation with the family present will be from 4:00-6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17th, 2018 at the Fjelstul Funeral Home on East Water Street. The family will receive friends and relatives at the church at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, commencing one hour before the service.

Gladys Marie Edith Hertges was born on April 14th, 1930, on the family farm located a few miles north of Ossian, Iowa. Her parents were Michael Hertges, (born November 22nd, 1879, in Luxembourg, Europe) and Anna (Zweibohmer) Hertges, born April 11th, 1898, near Ossian, Iowa. The youngest of 12 children, Gladys was raised on the family farm, and educated at St. Francis de Sales Catholic School in Ossian, graduating from high school in 1948. She was her senior class president and valedictorian.

On May 31st, 1949, she married Zeno Joseph Wolfe at the St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church. Zeno's parents were Joseph and Anna (Giesing) Wolfe of Festina, Iowa. Together Gladys and Zeno farmed on a dairy farm in Frankville Township located due east of the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church on what is now known as the Centennial Road.

Gladys and Zeno were the proud parents of seven children: Marie Josephine, born March 19th, 1950 and married to Greg Grant of Decorah, Iowa; Philip Alexander, born November 2nd, 1952, and married to Doris Jean Berka of Cresco, Iowa; Peter Quintin, born March 13th, 1955, and married to George Belitsos of Cincinnati, Ohio; Paul Russell, born May 23rd, 1956, and married to Pamela Jackson, of Corning, Iowa; Mark Donald, born February 19th, 1959, and married to Mari Nesteby, of Decorah, Iowa; Marcia Ann, born September 27th, 1962, and married to Jon Madrigal, of Decorah, Iowa; Melissa Marie, born September 26th, 1970, and engaged to be married to Jim Welsch on July 6th, 2018, of Longmont, Colorado.

Gladys led a very active life on the family farm, raising her seven children, and tending to a very large garden. She was well known as an excellent cook and baker. When her children were still at home she was regularly baking as many as 11 loaves of home-made bread per week! She was also proficient at canning and preserving the garden and orchard produce. Gladys was also a talented seamstress and quilter. She made many quilts in her lifetime and said she stopped counting them after 120 quilts! She loved feeding the birds and hated the deer!

Unfortunately, her son Philip died tragically in a car accident on October 5th, 1976. Later, Doris, Philip’s widow, married Tom Taylor of Cresco, Iowa in 1979. Together they had a son Trevor. Six years later, her husband Zeno died of colon cancer on June 17th, 1982, only a year after the couple had moved from the family farm to their home on Ridge Road in Decorah, Iowa.

A widow at age 52, Gladys never re-married. After Zeno's death she was employed at the Decorah Greenhouse for a number of years and also at the Decorah Senior Center. She took German classes at Luther College. She also became a certified tax preparer through courses provided by H and R Block. Gladys was also a certified Master Gardener and active in the local gardening club. She had won much recognition for her beautiful garden over the years. Gladys had the good fortune to do some travelling, usually through tours provided by the local bank club, and visited many areas of the United States including Hawaii, as well as a tour of many countries in Europe. She was very proud of her Luxembourg heritage.

Gladys is survived by six of her seven children and their spouses, including eleven grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren: Andrew (Jennie) Wolfe and children Delaney and Philip Carter; Trevor (Amy) Taylor and children Tom, Wyatt, and Caden; Sarah (Lynn) Burnett and children Sam and Bo; Susan (Adam) Peterson and children Lydia and Quinn; Cathy (Joey) Houdek and children Eve, Aurora, Willow, and Joseph; Joseph (Jenna) Wolfe and children Jadelyn and Jacob; Elizabeth (Ryan) Graf, Rachel (Ryan) Grenko, Anna Madrigal and special friend Ryan Crum; Zachariah (Tania ) Wolfe, and Jeremiah Wolfe; Rachel and Ryan Grenko are expecting to add to the list of great-grandchildren with a baby due this June!

Gladys is also survived by one sister, Dorothy (Rusty) Barnes of Cresco, Iowa; two sisters-in-law, Velma (Greg) Hertges of Waterloo, Iowa and Theresa (Donald) Hertges of Ossian Iowa; one brother-in-law, Norbert Wolfe, of Corpus Christie, Texas; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Gladys was preceded in death by her husband Zeno; her son Philp; her parents, Michael and Anna Hertges; and her parents-in-law Joseph and Anna Wolfe. She was also preceded in death by ten of her siblings and in-laws: Nicholas (Pauline) Hertges, Mayme (Edwin) Klee, Greg Hertges, Hildegard (Roy) Sundry, Clarence (Harriet) Hertges, Florence (Carl) Hawkins, Leonard (Viola) Hertges, Ralph (Pauline) Hertges, Donald Hertges, Marcelite (Quintin) Bucheit, and Rusty Barnes. A number of nieces and nephews have also preceded her in death.

Source: Fjelstul Funeral Home database

St. Benedict Cemetery
 

Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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