Wepler, Gladys Wilma (Rickert) 1923 - 2020

WEPLER, RICKERT, POSSEHL, ENGELHARDT, ANDERSON, ODE, HERTGES, DALE, THOMAS, SCHMIDT, SCHEMBERGER, PETERSON, TEPESCH, WONDERLICH, BYRNE, CHAIKEN, BOILER, MCCLINTOCK, ELSHOFF, GOEDE, GODFREY, WOOGE, CHAFFEE

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/19/2024 at 21:00:44

Gladys W. Wepler, age 97 of Decorah, IA, died Sunday, November 29, 2020 at the Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, WI.

Visitation will be from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Friday, December 4, 2020 at Fjelstul Funeral Home in Decorah.

Masks are required to attend, and social distancing is mandated.

Private Family Burial will follow at Phelps Cemetery in Decorah with Rev. Seth Robinson officiating.

Gladys Wilma (Rickert) Wepler was born on June 13, 1923 in Elkader, Iowa, the daughter of George and Sophia Maria Johannes (Possehl) Rickert. She attended country school in Elkader. The family moved to Decorah and she graduated from Decorah High School with the class of 1941. Gladys worked at Collins (Turner & Co.) in Cedar Rapids, then moved to Boston, MA and worked at the Defense Plant. She had met Walter Wepler from Decorah and he was serving in the U.S. Navy in Boston.

Gladys was united in marriage to Walter W. Wepler on August 26,1943 in Boston. This union was blessed with four sons: Dennis, David, Roger, and Wesley.

They moved back home to Decorah in 1945 when Walter was discharged from the Navy. Walter worked with his father at Wepler Locker in Decorah. Soon after Walter and Gladys managed and eventually owned the Wepler Custom Butchering and Processing plant north of Decorah where they raised four boys. Later in life she worked at Decorah Community Schools for many years in janitorial services.

Gladys belonged to the Congregational United Church of Christ and she was active in Petra Circle. Gladys accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Personal Savior. She loved lemon Meringue pie, made the best salads, loved recipes (a family favorite is Grandma Gladys’ Eggs), and especially spending time with her family.

Gladys moved into the Aase Haugen Home on December 2, 2016.

She was preceded in death by her parents George and Sophia Rickert; her husband Walter on November 10, 1979; brother Gerald Rickert; sister Sylvia (Rickert) and Alvin Engelhardt; father- and mother-in-law, Joseph Elmer and Inga (Anderson) Wepler; brothers- and sisters-in-law: Jesse Wepler, Dorothy (Wepler) Anderson and A. Carleton (Carle) Anderson, Gail (Wepler) and Rudy Ode, Viola (Wepler) and Leonard Hertges, Luella (Wepler) and Rolf Dale and Percy Wepler; Nieces and Nephews: Fedora Engelhardt, LaDue (Butch) Ode, Carla (Anderson) Thomas, Kristi Dale, Ann Marie (Hertges) Schmidt and Richard (Dick) Hertges.

Gladys is survived by her four sons: Dennis and Susan (Winger) Wepler of Eau Claire, WI, David Wepler and Roger Wepler of Decorah, and Wesley and Rhonda (Cain) Wepler of Sioux City, IA; five grandchildren: Stephanie (Wepler) and Jeff Schemberger, Alison (Wepler) and Paul Peterson, Tyler Wepler, Matthew Wepler and Janee Wepler; five great-grandchildren: Billy, and Tommy Peterson, Sophie, Chloe and Luke Schemberger: sister-in-law Patricia (Tepesch) Wepler; nieces and nephews: Esther (Engelhardt) and Dick Wonderlich, Dee Ann (Anderson) and Roger Byrne, Mary Jo (Anderson) and Bob Chaiken, Joyce Ode, Judy (Ode) and Bill Boiler, Karen (Ode) and Don McClintock, Cheryl (Hertges) and Jim Elshoff, Jim Hertges, Rolf and Cindy (Goede) Dale, Jr., Julie Dale, Dianne (Dale) and Dan Godfrey, Ron and Carol (Wooge) Wepler, Theresa (Wepler) and Scott Chaffee, and Mike Wepler.

Gladys’ family wants to give special thanks for the loving care she received from the staffs at Aase Haugen Home the last four years and at Gundersen Lutheran Palliative Care Unit in La Crosse.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Congregational United Church of Christ, 209 W. Broadway, P.O. Box 470, Decorah, IA 52101 or Aase Haugen Senior Services, 4 Ohio Street, Decorah, IA 52101.

Source: Fjelstul Funeral Home database

Phelps Cemetery
 

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