Jean Annette (Williams) RIETZ

RIETZ, WILLIAMS, PRITCHETT, MANGOLD, HEIN, REUSCHER, JORGENSEN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:57

December 16, 1920 ---- May 7, 2018

Jean A. Rietz, 97, Washington, IA, formerly of Belmond, died May 7, 2018 at the Halcyon House in Washington following a short illness. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, May 11 at the Belmond United Methodist Church. The family will receive friends from 10-11 a.m. at the church. Interment will take place at the Graceland Cemetery, Rowan. Memorials are suggested to the Belmond United Methodist Women.

Jean Annette was born Dec. 16, 1920 in Washington D.C. to Raymond and Anna Pritchett Williams. When she was three, the family moved to Flandreau, SD. She graduated from Flandreau High School and went to South Dakota State for one year. She transferred to General Beadle State Teachers College where she graduated. She taught school in Clear Lake, SD for two years.

She married Lt. Paul A. Rietz in Sioux Falls on Nov. 11, 1945. They made their home in Chicago where Paul was enrolled at the Illinois College of Optometry. In 1949 he graduated and they moved to Belmond to open an optometric practice. They spent 51 years in Belmond.

After Paul’s retirement in 2000, they moved to Washington to be close to their daughter. They built a new home. Paul died Dec. 13, 2000. Jean later resided at the United Presbyterian Home and at the Halcyon retirement community in Washington. Jean was thrilled to live long enough to get to know her great-grandchildren.

Jean loved her home and family and was a member of the Belmond United Methodist Church and the United Methodist Women. She enjoyed playing bridge and golf, and entertaining friends. She loved the outdoors and working in her flowers; she became an avid bird watcher.

Jean is survived by her daughter Julie (Terry) Mangold of West Chester; grandson Adam (Teresa) Mangold of Kalona; granddaughter Joanna (Nathan) Hein of Marion; great-grandchildren Vivian and Rowan Hein, Megan and Mackenzie Reuscher; nephews Roger and Paul W. Rietz; and niece Carmen Jorgensen.

Belmond Independent -- Belmond, Iowa
May 8, 2018