Martha Joan (Brandt) NEAHRING

NEAHRING, BRANDT, SCHATZ, BILLINGS, OWENS, BUSEMAN, JOHNSON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 12/29/2008 at 19:54:07

12/2/2008
Post Bulletin, Rochester, Minnesota

STEWARTVILLE, MN -- The funeral for Martha J. Neahring, 99, will be at 11 a.m. Friday at St. John's Lutheran Church in Stewartville, with the Rev. Lyle Fritsch officiating. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery, Stewartville. Mrs. Neahring, a longtime rural Stewartville resident, died Sunday (Nov. 30, 2008) of natural causes at the Stewartville Care Center, where she had resided since 2005.

Martha Joan Brandt was born May 20, 1909, in Klemme, Iowa, where she grew up on the family farm. She married Fred Neahring on Aug. 19, 1925, in Kanawha, Iowa. The couple lived in Illinois for one year before moving to rural Britt, Iowa, where they farmed. In March 1951 the family moved to rural Stewartville, where they farmed for a number of years. Mrs. Neahring was a farm wife and homemaker and was also employed by the Stewartville school district, where she managed the cafeteria at Central Elementary School. She also worked part time at the cafe in the Sears & Roebuck department store and seasonally at Libby's and McNeils canning plant, both in Rochester. She moved to Stewartville prior to her retirement in 1974. A longtime member of St. John's Lutheran Church, Mrs. Neahring was active in the church Ladies Aid, was a 4-H leader and a member of its Alumni Group. She was a member of the Sunshine Club and card clubs and enjoyed sewing, crocheting, flower gardening, baking, Sunday morning coffee and spending time with her family.

Survivors include three daughters, Shirley Schatz of High Forest, Marilyn Billings of Rochester and Rhonda (Dale) Owens of Elgin; 21 grandchildren; 44 great-grandchildren; and 14 great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband on Aug. 23, 1964; a son, Donald; two great-grandchildren, Katie and Nathan; her parents, William and Katie (Buseman) Brandt; a sister, Louise Johnson; and a brother, Henry Brandt.

Friends may call from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday at Griffin-Gray Funeral Home in Stewartville, and an hour before the service Friday at the church. The family suggests memorials to St. John's Lutheran Church.