Mary Alice Koetke 1927 - 2019

KOETKE, HART, COPE

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 2/23/2020 at 21:55:00

Sioux City Journal
8 December 2019

Mary A. Koetke, 91, of Kingsley, passed away Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, at Lawton Senior Living in Lawton, Iowa.

Services will be 11 a.m. Monday at First Lutheran Church in Kingsley, with Pastor Jason Letsche officiating. Burial will be in Arlington Township Cemetery at Moville, Iowa. Visitation will be 9 a.m. to service time Monday at the church. Online condolences may be sent to rohdefh.com.

Mary Alice Cope was born Dec. 13, 1927, in Peru, Neb., the daughter of Guy W. and Alvie (Hart) Cope. Mary grew up on a farm south of Peru, attending Honey Creek country school until finishing the eighth grade after which she attended Peru High School, graduating in 1945. She began her college education at Peru State in Nebraska, and years later, acquired her degree at Westmar College in Le Mars, Iowa. She began teaching in southeastern Nebraska, and later moved to northern Nebraska for four years before teaching in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Following her teaching in Nebraska, she moved to Kingsley, where she taught in the Kingsley-Pierson School system for 36 years, retiring in the spring of 1995.

On June 17, 1956, she and Merlin Koetke were married in the Coryell Chapel, rural Brock, Neb. That same year, Mary was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith. Following their marriage, Mary and Merlin made their home on a farm south of Kingsley until 1975, when they moved to the town of Kingsley. Mary was a member of First Lutheran Church in Kingsley.

Mary’s husband, Merlin, passed away in October of 1995. Following Merlin’s death, Mary continued to live in their house and remained very independent until the end.

Mary is survived by nieces and nephews.

Preceding Mary in death were her parents, Gary and Alvie Cope; her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Otto and Bertha Koetke; brothers and sisters-in-law, Carl (Helen) and Roy (Judy); and brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Eldon and Rowena Roepke.