Thelma P. (Skou) BAHR RATHJEN

RATHJEN, SKOU, PINGLE, BAHR, HOFLAND, HULSHIZER, BISSEN, BLANK, WAYNE, SMITH, GEHRKE, BROOKSHIER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 5/30/2007 at 21:26:15

AUSTIN, Minn. - Thelma P. Rathjen, 88, died Thursday, (May 23, 2002) at the Austin Medical Center. Her funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at Grace Lutheran Church, with Pastor Joe Schularick officiating. Interment will be in Grandview Cemetery. Friends may call from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Mayer Funeral Home, 600 Second St. N.W., Austin, Minn., and will continue one hour before the service at the church Monday.

Thelma was born Aug. 9, 1913, in Eagle Grove, Iowa, to Lou and Louise (Pingle) Skou. She attended school at Alden, Iowa, and graduated as salutatorian of her class. In 1931 she was united in marriage to Alvie Bahr at Buckeye, Iowa. They farmed in the Alden and Buckeye area until 1952, when they moved to a farm north of St. Ansgar. On June 12, 1976, she was united in marriage to Elmer Rathjen of Austin. The couple farmed near Austin until they retired in 1995. They moved to the Cedars of Austin, where she resided at the time of her death. Thelma was a wonderful mother and grandmother. She was an excellent seamstress and had a huge garden on the farm and loved flowers and reading.

Survivors include her husband, Elmer Rathjen, Austin; children, Marylyn and Allen Hofland, St. Ansgar, Dallas Bahr, Austin, Marlene and Russell Hulshizer, St. Ansgar, Craig and Jill Bahr, Bettendorf, and Mary and Russell Bissen, Stacyville; stepchildren, Lee and Ruth Rathjen, Austin, Joyce and Bruce Blank, Phoenix, Ariz., and Ewina Wayne, Pequot Lakes, Minn.; 26 grandchildren; several great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; sisters, Nova Smith, Kansas City, Mo., Wilma Gehrke, Iowa Falls, and Anne Brookshier, Lexington, Kan. She was preceded in death by her husband, Alvie; parents; son, Delmar; and grandsons, David and Peter. Mayer Funeral Home.