Gilbert Henry GUENTHER

GUENTHER, COX, COALTER, RUGGLES, BELL, GAULT, THEULEN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/5/2010 at 12:31:41

January 4, 1907 -- December 4, 1998

BRITT, Iowa - Gilbert Guenther, 91, of Britt, formerly of Galva, died Friday at Kanawha Community Home. Services will be 11 a.m. Monday at the United Methodist Church in Britt. Burial will be at Evergreen Cemetery in Britt. Visitation will be after 4 p.m. today at the Cataldo Funeral Home in Britt.

December 7, 1998
Source unknown

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BRITT — Gilbert H. Guenther, 91, died Friday (Dec. 4, 1998) at the Kanawha Community Home. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the United Methodist Church with the Rev. Robert Dodge, the Rev. Karen Dearchs, the Rev. Warren Paige, the Rev. Robert Bell, the Rev. Ronald Johnson, and the Rev. Arlyn Coalter officiating. Interment will be in Evergreen Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. today at the Cataldo Funeral Home. Memorials may be directed to the Britt United Methodist Church Organ Fund.

Gilbert Henry Guenther was born on Jan. 4, 1907, in Page County, near Shambaugh, to George Isaac and Harriet Sarah (Cox) Guenther. He attended country school and graduated from Clarinda High School in 1925. He attended junior college in Clarinda where he played football. He 1928, he traveled with a threshing crew into North Dakota and Canada. On his return home, he stopped in Ida County, where he found work on a local farm.

On Aug. 14, 1934, he was united in marriage to Sarah Eleanor Coalter at the Silver Creek Methodist Church near Galva. To this union were born five children, Virginia, George, Jeanette, Margaret and Eugene. They made their home and farmed in Ida County until 1946, when the Guenther family moved to a farm in Erin Township near Britt. Gilbert developed the farm, fed cattle and hogs, and later put his efforts into grain farming. His wife, Eleanor, passed away suddenly in 1961. He entered into a second marriage with Katherine Ruggles of Mason City. In 1967, Katherine succumbed to cancer. In the fall of 1968, he was united in marriage to Helen Bell of Charles City. Gilbert continued to farm with his son, Gene, but gradually retired. He and Helen were able to travel to every state in the country. In July of this year, poor health prompted their move into the Kanawha Community Home, where he died on Dec. 4, 1998, at the age of 91.

Gilbert was a 52-year member of the Britt United Methodist Church where he taught Sunday school culminating 62 straight years of teaching. He was chairman of the Building Committee for the present church, and served in many capacities. He was a Farm Bureau Director and President, a Britt Farmer’s Co-op Director and President, one of the founders and past chairman of the Hancock County Cattlemen’s Association, a member of the Hancock County Pork Producers and was active in the Republican Party. He was on the Hancock County Appraisal Board for several years and was a charter member of the Britt Country Club. He was well known as an avid supporter of Britt High School athletics and other community endeavors.

He is survived by his wife, Helen; two sons, George Guenther and his wife, Janice, of Corwith, and Eugene Guenther and his wife, Julie, of Britt; two daughters, Jeanette Gault and her husband, Jerry, of Spicer, Minn., and Margaret Bell and her husband, Robert, of Washington; a son-in-law, Bernard Theulen and his wife, Helen, of Blakesburg; 23 grandchildren; 29 great-grandchildren; a sister, Ethel Guenther of Hemet, Calif.; and many nieces, nephews and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents; his wives, Eleanor and Katherine; a daughter, Virginia Theulen; three sisters; and three brothers.

December 7, 1998
Mason City (Iowa) Globe Gazette