John W. TOMKE

TOMKE, SWIEK, MICKELSON, SCHEELE, COURCY, LUCAS, HACKEL

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/23/2009 at 10:31:13

BATTLE CREEK, Iowa - John W. Tomke, 73, of Battle Creek, died Thursday, June 3, 1999, at Horn Memorial Hospital in Ida Grove, Iowa. Services will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Ida Grove with the Rev. Gerald M. Fisch officiating. Burial will be in Mount Hope Cemetery in Battle Creek, with military graveside honors conducted by Maple Valley Post 364 of the American Legion. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. today, with a Scripture Service at 7 p.m., at Christensen-Ciha Funeral Home in Battle Creek.

Mr. Tomke was born on Dec. 13, 1925, in Clarion, Iowa, the son of Richard and Sophie (Swiek) Tomke. He graduated from Clarion High School in 1943 and earned an accounting degree from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. He married Joan Mickelson on Nov. 24, 1950, at St. John's Catholic Church in Clarion. He was employed with First State Bank and Ida County State Bank in Battle Creek and Ida Grove for many years. He was a member of the Battle Creek Fire Department, Lions Club and the Iowa Banking Association. He enjoyed golfing, fishing, hunting and playing cards.

Survivors include his wife; four daughters, Susan Scheele of Fairfield Bay, Ark., Betsy Tomke of Hailey, Idaho, Kelly Tomke, and Johnna Tomke Courcy and husband Bill, all of San Diego; three grandchildren; two brothers and their wives, Stan and Audrey of Clear Lake, and Dick and Annabel of Eagle Grove; a sister and her husband, Sophie and Larry Lucas of Tampa, Fla.; and a sister-in-law, Irma Tomke of Clarion. He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Joe; and a sister, Katherine Hackel.

Sioux City Journal, Iowa
June 6, 1999