Herman Haafke

HAAFKE FOOTE

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 8/26/2010 at 20:48:27

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Herman Haafke
By Bernice Haafke Bruntz

Herman Haafke was the second surviving child to be born to the Edward Haafke’s. He was born February 17, 1871, in Koeningsberg, East Prussia. Herman had just learned to walk when he came to the United States, but he managed to walk on the tossing ship.
Herman attended grade school at Elliot Creek School. He was first received into the Bronson Presbyterian Church on March 20, 1898, and was an elder for sixty years.

After Herman left home, he first lived on his farm northwest of Bronson. The Ray Haafke family now owns this land. He married Stella Burgett from Sioux City in Douglas County, Nebraska, on February 18, 1914. She died on July 8, 1925.

Herman married Mary Jeanette Foote at Inwood, Iowa, on February 11, 1932. They had five children: Donald Dean, born and died on December 2, 1932, Donna Jean, Donald’s twin, also born December 2, 1932; the second set of twins, born November 6, 1933, Richard Allen and Raymond Lee, and JoAnn, born August 10, 1938.

Donna Jean married Herbert Wayne Johnson on August 20, 1959. They live in Iowa City and have two adopted daughters: Carolyn Jeanette and Marilyn Lynette were born on July 25, 1961, and were adopted on December 8, 1961. Marilyn was married to Daniel Murphy in Iowa City on April 8, 1983.

Richard Allen Haafke married Ruth Till on February 11, 1956, in the Covenant Church near Sloan. They had three children: Randy Lee, born February 3, 1957, married Marilyn Hobbs on September 22, 1978; Rebecca Jo, born March 31, 1960; and Robert Gordon, born August 16, 1962, who was killed in a car accident on May 27, 1982.

Raymond Lee Haafke and his wife, the former Kathy Masters, were married in 1956. The names of their six chidlren are: Debbie, born January 22, 1958; Michael, born October 13, 1959; Ron, born June 24, 1961; Judy and Jeanne (twins), born May 28, 1963; and Karyl Anne, born Janaury 12, 1969. Ray and Kathy live on a farm northeast of Bronson.

JoAnn Haafke, the youngest child of Herman and Jeanette Haafke, is a school principal in Omaha. She has resided there for many years.

At one time, Herman ran a general store in South Dakota. He taught Sunday school at the Elliot Creek Presbyterian Church and continued until shortly before his death. Herman and Jeanette were also members of Grace Methodist Church when they lived in Sioux City and even had their membership there for a time after moving to Bronson. They then transferred it to the Bronson Presbyterian Church.

Herman was a member of the Morningside Lodge 615, AF&Am; Sioux City Consistory 5; and Abu Bekr Shrine. Herman was also an early member of the Bronson Band in the beginning 1900’s. One of his hobbies was fishing.

One of the few stories he told his chidlren pertaining to his life as a young farmer was the time he sold corn to the elevator in Leeds. He hitched his horses to the wagon very early in the morning and took the load of corn to Leeds to sell. By the time he got home, it was dark and difficult to see, so he never did that again.

Herman built the house on his land in 1935. He and Jeanette lived thre and reared their family there. His death occurred on October 2, 1967, at the age of eighty-six. His death was caused by pneumonia. Jeanette passed away on December 19, 1960, as the result of a car accident. She was fifty-five years old.