Ethel (Gehler) SASSE NELSON

SASSE, GEHLER, NELSON, CONLEY, KIRCHNER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/7/2010 at 20:45:58

February 28, 1916 --- September 5, 2010

ANKENY, IA - Ethel Sasse Nelson, 94, died Sunday (Sept. 5, 2010) at Calvin Community in Des Moines. Ethel was born in Mason City, on Feb. 28, 1916, to August Gehler and Kate Conley. After Kate's passing, she was raised by her father and step-mother, Florentine Gehler. Ethel married Carl Sasse on April 4, 1939, and lived in Clarion, Iowa. Carl died on July 24, 1973. In 1974, Ethel moved back to Mason City, and married Marshall Nelson on Dec. 11, 1981, at the Little Brown Church in the Vale, Nashua. Marshall passed away on Aug. 11, 2009. Ethel's two children, Gus and Starr, remember their mom always working hard. While growing up, she owned and managed rental property in their neighborhood. She candled eggs at the Clarion Produce for many years. She was most proud of being a nurse's aide and medication aide at the Good Shepherd Home in Mason City. Ethel was preceded in death by her baby son, Robert; loving husband of 34 years, Carl Sasse; loving spouse of 27 years, Marshall Nelson; her two sisters, Betty and Kathleen; one brother, August John; step-son, John; and step-daughter, Louise. Ethel is survived by her children, August "Gus" (Margaret) Sasse, of Mason City; Starr (Mark) Kirchner, of Ankeny, and Jack (Lois) Nelson, of Myrtle Beach, S.C. She has seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010, at Hamilton's near Highland Memory Gardens, with burial to follow at Oralabor Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Calvin Community Good Samaritan Fund, 4210 Hickman Road, Des Moines, IA 50310, in loving memory of Ethel.

Mason City Globe Gazette -- Iowa
September 7, 2010