Surnames: Rex, Gjerde, Hendrickson, Dommer, Boyer, miller, Newman, Justman, Franz, Kuester, Neitzel, Blasel

----Sources: Scrap book one: by Elsa Lange Hardrath & Dorthaleen Edwards Hardrath

Contributed by Halbert "Bud" Hardrath

Medford - Olga C. Rex 97, Medford, formerly of Riplinger, died Saturday, October 5, 2002 at Memorial Nursing and Rehab Center, Medford.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Monday at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Riplinger. Burial will be in St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery. Rev. Steven Gjerde will officiate. Marsha Martens will be the organist for congregational singing.

Visitation was held Sunday at Community Funeral Home, Colby, and will be held again Monday from noon until the time of service at the church.

Pallbearers will be Wayne Hendrickson, Leroy Dommer, Harold Boyer, Ray Miller, Donald Newman and Steve Justman.

Community Funeral home is assisting the family with arrangements.

Olga was born November 15, 1904 near Martenburg, Minn., the daughter of Edmund and Hattie (nee Franz) Kuester. The family later moved to Fairfax, Minn. Where she attended Lutheran Parochial school. In 1919, the family moved to Riplinger, then known as Osborn. Olga joined in marriage on May 27, 1926 to Reuben Rex at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Riplinger. He died July 26, 1996. The couple farmed for 38 years in the town of Unity and then moved to Riplinger in 1964 where they resided until moving again in 1994 to the Stonecroft Manor, Medford. Since July of 2000 Olga resided at Memorial Nursing and Rehab Center.

In her younger years Olga was a member of the Luther League at St. John’s Lutheran Church, taught Sunday school and played the organ. She was a member of the church all her life, was active in the Ladies Aid and was the Financial Secretary of the church for many years. She was a member of the Colby Senior Citizens and the Clark County Deutscher Club. She enjoyed gardening, canning and made many quilts for friends and relatives. She also made over 400 quilts and lap robes for World Relief in her lifetime. Reuben and Olga celebrated their 25th, 50th, 60th, and 70th wedding anniversaries during their long life together.

Survivors include one son Orville (Jean) Rex, of Brookfield; two daughters, Marcella Neitzel, of Milwaukee, and Betty Blasel, of Medford; five grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren; and two brothers, Arnold Kuester, of Arizona, and Victor Kuester, of Milwaukee.

She was preceded in death by her husband; parents, seven brothers, Arthur, Helmuth, Edgar, Immanuel, Wilbert, Herbert, and Otto Kuester; one grandson, Duane Blasel, and two sons-in-laws.

In lieu of flowers memorials maybe given in Olga’s memory and will be designated at a later date.