Madonna Peace Brosamle 1918 - 2009

BROSAMLE, KURTZ, KUCHEL

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 6/27/2013 at 13:17:53

Sioux City Journal
18 November 2009

CUSHING, Iowa -- Madonna P. Brosamle, 91, of Holstein, Iowa, formerly of Cushing, passed away Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, at the Holstein Good Samaritan Center.

Memorial services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. John's Lutheran Church in Cushing, with the Rev. Bev Wolff officiating. Burial will be in Cushing Cemetery. The family will greet friends following the services Thursday at the church. Arrangements are under the direction of Christensen-Huffman Funeral Home in Ida Grove, Iowa. Condolences may be sent online to www.christensenhuffman.com.

When she was born on Nov. 10, 1918, World War I had just ended and her parents, Otto and Elsie (Kurtz) Kuchel, selected Peace as her middle name. She and her older brother, Cecil, were raised on the family farm south of Cushing. She attended country school at Battle Center, where she learned reading, writing, arithmetic and how to walk around the nearby cemetery atop the board fence. Her friends called her Donnie. She graduated from Cushing High School in 1937.

Richard Brosamle introduced himself at a Duke Ellington dance and took the "redhead from Cushing" to many dances and movies. They married on Christmas Eve in 1940. For the next 29 years, Donnie and Dick farmed near Cushing and Holstein and raised two sons. Mom and Dad retired for a time in Colorado Springs, Colo., then moved back to Cushing.

Mom prepared the tastiest fried chicken, potato salad, lemonade, home-made bread, cherry pie and cinnamon rolls. Her social circles included Saturday night dances, 500 and Canasta card clubs, Ladies Aid at church and spur-of-the-moment visits from relatives and friends. As her sons grew, she became an avid baseball, basketball, football and track fan. She was proud to see her sons go to college.

As a child of the Great Depression and a young wife and mother during World War II, she was resourceful and independent. She smiled everyday. Her house was filled with teasing and laughter.

Alzheimer's disease gradually took her from us. Donnie spent her last 11 years in the wonderful care of the Good Samaritan Nursing Home in Holstein.

She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Mark and Nancy Brosamle of Gretna, Neb., and Bryan and Mary Brosamle of Mount Horeb, Wis.; and a grandson and granddaughter-in-law, Mathew and Julie Brosamle of Cross Plains, Wis.

She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents; and a brother, Cecil.

Memorials in Madonna's name may be given to Holstein Good Samaritan Center.