Agnes Irene (Bowman) GRUIS

GRUIS, BOWMAN, DUBSON, SCHAEFFER, WHITTINGTON, PAGE, CLAUSEN, JURGENS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/7/2007 at 09:40:38

CLEAR LAKE — Agnes I. Gruis, 88, of Clear Lake, died Saturday (March 19, 2005) at Hospice of North Iowa in Mason City. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Retz-Grarup Funeral Home, 107 North Second Street in Thornton with the Rev. Jan Burnett of Clear Lake Methodist Church and the Rev. Rodney Meester of Meservey First Reformed Church officiating. Burial will follow at the Meservey Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. today at Retz-Grarup Funeral Home.

Agnes Irene Gruis was born July 24, 1916, in Williams, Iowa, to Charles Allen and Clara Belle (Dubson) Bowman. She graduated from Meservey High School in 1932. Agnes was married to Louis Daniel Gruis on Feb. 20,1935, in Belmond, Wright County, Iowa, and they farmed in the Meservey-Thornton area. Agnes was active in the Meservey Reformed Church; having been a Sunday School teacher and held various offices in the Reformed Church Women. After her husband's death in 1964, she moved to Clear Lake where she has since resided. During her years in Clear Lake, she did office work and retired from H&H Food Service in 1981. She then volunteered at Opportunity Village store for seven years; at the Clear Lake Public Library for 13 years; and also at numerous other places with RSVP. Doing things for others brought her much enjoyment. She also held offices in several clubs, as well as in United Methodist Women. She was an avid reader and also enjoyed gardening and cooking.

Survivors include her son, Lawrence, and his wife, Phyllis, Thornton; two grandchildren, Sonia Schaeffer and her husband, Darrell, Mason City, and Todd Gruis and his wife, Jane, Clear Lake; eight great-grandchildren: Elizabeth Whittington of Norwalk, Darren Page and his wife, Amy, of Hill Air Force Base, Utah, Alyssa Clausen and her husband, Jay, of Mason City, Holly Page of Des Moines, Amanda Jurgens of Nora Springs, Michael and Thomas Gruis of Clear Lake, and Austin Schaeffer of Mason City; and one great-great-granddaughter, Isabella Whittington of Norwalk. She was preceded in death by her husband; a grandson, Brad, in 1981; her parents; five brothers and five sisters. Retz-Grarup Funeral Homes.

Mason City Globe Gazette
March 21, 2005