Herold, Valeria 1920 - 2021
HEROLD, BAKER, KRIENER, LUCAS, JOVAN, SCHACK, BLOCKER, MILBRANDT, JONES, WOODRUFF
Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 10/8/2021 at 14:50:36
Valeria Herold, age 101, of Fort Atkinson, IA, died on Saturday, October 2, 2021, at her home in Fort Atkinson, IA.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m., Friday, October 8, 2021, at St. John’s Catholic Church in Fort Atkinson, IA, with Rev. Nick Radloff presiding. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
Visitation will be from 9:00 a.m. until the time of the service on Friday, October 8, 2021, at St. John’s Catholic Church in Fort Atkinson, IA.
The family requests all attending to please wear a mask.
Most don’t ever dream of making it to one hundred years of age, but if anyone was going to accomplish that feat, it was Valeria, and she flew past that mark and then went on to capture 101 earlier this year. Valeria was born on her family farm four miles east of Fort Atkinson to Martin and Mayme Baker Herold on May 23, 1920. She was the second child in what would be a family of five children and her parents. Valeria grew up loving the farm, the animals, the garden and her very close family. If three words could describe her from an early age throughout her entire lifetime, those three would be selfless, kind-hearted and understanding.
Valeria was given her elementary education in the one-room school house just down the road from her home in what was known as school house #1 in Jackson township in Winneshiek County. Here she learned that education would be her calling. Valeria grew up to earn her teaching degrees from Mount Mercy in Cedar Rapids and the former Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, what is today the University of Northern Iowa. She later would earn her Masters in Library Science at UNI. Her first assignment was teaching in a one-room school house just south and west of her family farm. She often shared stories of the many tasks a school teacher was to perform while educating a varied group of children each year. From starting fires in the wood stove prior to student arrivals in the morning to traveling to Decorah on Saturdays to gain needed supplies that were handed out to the local teachers throughout the year, Valeria shared that the life of a teacher never had a dull moment. As these schools became fewer, Valeria found her next job educating students in the Calmar and then in the Waucoma Public School system. Here she taught grade school and chaperoned many sports for young ladies. As talk grew in the late 50s of creating a more centralized public school, Valeria found herself moving to the new building that would become Turkey Valley Community School in 1963. Here she would continue educating children and young adults in English and then taking on the position as Teacher Librarian until her retirement in 1986, after 45 years in education.
Valeria gave of herself to everyone she would meet. Whether it was in the form of a thoughtful conversation or with physical help or financial means, she was the ultimate giver. She grew amazing flowers that often adorned the altar at St. John’s Nepomucene Catholic Church. Her love for music took her to the church choir where she and her church family assisted with songs of praise each weekend and for special occasions and celebrations of life. Although Valeria never married, her vocation was her family. She was that sister and aunt that always made each feel as though they were the only person in the room. Valeria’s kind-heartedness was known throughout the community. She shared her immaculate garden’s produce with many and always assisted with church functions, organizations and benefits, whether in the form of monetary donations or gifts of time and resources.
Valeria’s love for Christ was marked in many significant ways. Often when traveling, even for a simple trip to Rochester, MN, she would lead family and friends in the saying of the rosary. Prayer was a part of each day. Most recently she helped in financing the two new angels that adorn her parish church near the main front doors.
An avid traveler, Valeria was known for her sense of adventure and helping others to understand that although people may live in different parts of the world, all people really have the same common goals. She knew that her travels made her a more understanding and compassionate educator and human being. Her favorite trips often included family and close friends and she made her way around the globe often with a religious stop along the way. Family fishing trips were another way she would help her siblings teach their children a love for the outdoors. She enjoyed her bowling friends in the fall and winter and golf outings during the spring and summer.
Valeria and her two sisters, Anastasia and Rosemary, the three queens, a nickname given to them by a priest, were inseparable. Living just a few miles apart their entire lives, they shared 88 years of daily phone calls, morning coffee and gardening wisdom. Valeria was always the shoulder anyone in her family and her close friends could lean on. In her final years of life, she was blessed to stay in her home and was aided by her family and amazing caretakers. She would want others to know that she lived a blessed life and loved everyone she met along the way.
Valeria joined those who preceded her in death including her parents, her older brother Ambrose and wife Evelyn, her younger brother Cletus and nephew Theodore, brothers-in-law Cyril and Leo Kriener.
Those left to cherish her memory include her sisters Anastasia and Rosemary, sister-in-law Anita Herold, nieces and nephews Joe, John, Ellen, Mary Ann, Tim, Tom and Matt Herold, Ann Lucas, Emma Jovan, Jenny Schack, Anne Blocker, Evie Milbrandt, Linda Jones, Richard, Arnold, Joseph and Martin Kriener, Margaret Woodruff, their spouses and great nieces and nephews, along with cousins and friends.
Source: Schluter-Balik Funeral Home database
St. John's Cemetery
Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen