Bessie Mae (Smith) KEPLER

KEPLER, SMITH, CLAUDE, WILLARDSON, RYAN, LUNDEEN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/2/2010 at 12:20:44

28 August 1882 -- 7 April 1968

Mrs. Kepler dies at 85

Mrs. Oscar D. Kepler, 85, lifelong resident of Hamilton county and a longtime resident of Webster City, died Sunday afternoon at the Lutheran hospital in Fort Dodge. She had been ill the past several years. Funeral services will be at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Foster Funeral home with the Rev. Marvin E. Brewer officiating and with burial in Graceland cemetery. Bessie Mae Smith, daughter of George William and Viola Melissa Smith, was born Aug. 29, 1882, on a farm in the Saratoga community near Stanhope. She was reared and educated in the Saratoga vicinity. She was united in marriage Aug. 28, 1902, to Oscar David Kepler, and the couple farmed northeast of Webster City until 1909, moving then into their home at 502 River St., Webster City.

She is survived by her husband; five sons and two daughters, Eugene Kepler, Howard Kepler, Ralph Kepler, Donald Kepler, and Mrs. Virgil (Verna) Claude, all of Webster City; Robert Kepler, Minneapolis, and Mrs. W.A. (Doris) Willardson of West Des Moines, Iowa; 24 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren; two sisters, Mrs. Daisy Ryan of Nora Springs, Iowa, and Mrs. Lillian Lundeen of Winona, Minn. She was preceded in death by two sons; four daughters; by her parents; one brother and one sister. Mrs. Kepler was baptized in the Christian faith.