Byron Peter KOENEN

KOENEN, STEENBLOCK, WATERMILLER, KOEHLER, JONES, JURGENS, PITKIN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/26/2007 at 11:35:18

Clear Lake Mirror Reporter
12 October 2005

Byron Peter Koenen, 69, of Clear Lake, died Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005 at Good Shepherd Health Center in Mason City, Iowa. Funeral services will be held 10 a.m., Wednesday at First Reformed Church in Meservey, Iowa with the Rev. Rodney Meester presiding. Interment will be in Meservey Cemetery. Byron was born Feb. 17, 1936 in Belmond, Iowa a son of Bernhard and Hattie (Steenblock) Koenen. He attended Belmond schools. On Oct. 1, 1954 Byron was united in marriage with Vergene Watermiller at the First Reformed Church in Meservey. Together they farmed in the Thornton area. Byron was a farmer through and through. He served on the Thornton Co-op board for 12 years, a few as president, and served many years on the Franklin County ASC Committee. As a pilot, Byron flew over farms for the ASCS crews to take aerial photographs of farms. In addition to his love of farming Byron also enjoyed fishing and motorcycling with his friends. A member of First Reformed Church in Meservey, Byron served the church in the Consistory, as a Deacon and Elder. For a time he also was a 4-H leader in Franklin County.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife of 51 years, Vergene; daughters, Valerie (Wayne) Koehler, Meservey, Renae (Joseph) Jones, Bothell, Wash.; three grandsons, Shawn (Kelly) Koehler, Enid, Okla., Brandon (Peggy) Koehler, Mason City, Matthew Koehler, Ames, Iowa; a granddaughter, Carly Jones, Bothell, Wash.; three great-grandchildren; a sister, Marjorie (Ron) Jurgens, Belmond; sister-in-law, Elaine Pitkin, Clear Lake; one niece; one nephew and many aunts, uncles and cousins. He is preceded in death by his parents; mother and father-in-law, George and Cora Watermiller and brother-in-law, Franklin Pitkin. Retz-Grarup Funeral Home