Shaffe Thomas Courey 1917 - 2008

COUREY, MICHAEL, MERTES

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 5/20/2019 at 21:37:26

Sioux City Journal
21 May 2008

Shaffe Thomas Courey, 90, of Pittsburg, Calif., formerly of Sioux City, died Saturday, May 17, 2008, at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Sioux City, with the Rev. Michael Erpelding officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. today, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m. and a parish vigil service at 7 p.m., at Christy-Smith Larkin Chapel.

Shaffe was born Sept. 16, 1917, in Lennox, S.D., the son of Mose T. and Amelia (Michael) Courey. He came to Sioux City as a small child. He attended St. Joseph Grade School, Woodrow Wilson Junior High and graduated from Central High School in 1935. After high school, he played softball and baseball for minor league teams in the area. In 1942, he joined the U.S. Army. During World War II, he served in the European and African Theaters. He served in France and Italy and was wounded three times. He received the Purple Heart Medal.

In 1943, he married Patricia Ann Mertes in Louisville, Ky. Pat died on May 8, 2001, in Pittsburg, Calif.

After the war, he attended Morningside College and graduated with a bachelor's degree in education. He taught school and coached in the area for five years. He then moved to Pittsburg, Calif., where he taught school for 24 years.

He did volunteer work for the Disabled American Veterans and was a past national commander. He also was a member of the Purple Heart Association and he belonged to the Elks Lodge in Pittsburg.

He is survived by two sisters, Mary Louise (James) Glann of Oklahoma City, Okla., and Sister Mary George Courey, O.S.F. of Dubuque, Iowa; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; three sisters, Adel Kidwell, Edna Atkins and Doris Paul; and three brothers, twins in infancy and George T., who died during World War II.