Obit: Artz, Buddie "Gene" (1920 - 2007)

Contact:  Shari Hahn
Email: steppinwest@elknet.net

Surnames: Artz, Haines, Welter, Schaefer, Sitka, Taplin, Wilding

----Sources: Marshfield News-Herald, March 19, 2007
 

Artz, Buddie "Gene" (14 Nov. 1920 - 17 March 2007)

Buddie Artz

Buddie "Gene" Artz, 86, of Loyal died Saturday, March 17, 2007, at the House of the Dove, Marshfield.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 20, at St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Loyal. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. Military rites will be performed by the Loyal American Legion Post No. 175.

Visitation is from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, March 19, at Cuddie Funeral Home, Loyal, and from 10 a.m. until service time Tuesday at the church.

A Knights of Columbus rosary will be at 6:45 p.m. Monday followed by a prayer service at 7 p.m.

He was born Nov. 14, 1920, to Flossie (Haines) and Fred Artz in Florence, Kan. As a young boy, he moved with his family to western Iowa. After graduating from Kingsley Iowa High School, he enrolled at the Lincoln Nebraska Flying School to study aviation mechanics. In 1940, he was employed by Curtiss-Wright Aircraft, Buffalo, N.Y., in the airplane plant. In Nov. 1941, a group from the plant, including Gene, was sent to Iran for a year as part of the Lend Lease program between the United States and Russia during World War II. Airplane parts were shipped to Iran, where the group assembled and readied the planes for combat for Russia. In Oct. 1943, Gene enlisted in the Marine Corps, trained at Paris Island, S.C., and Santa Barbara, Calif., and then was assigned to a Marine Air Corps squadron on the aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Gilbert Island. He repaired and readied the planes involved in air strikes against the enemy at Okinawa, Borneo and Japan. After his military service in 1946, he returned to Kingsley, Iowa, where he was employed as a John Deer mechanic.

On April 25, 1949 he married Margaret Welter at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Kingsley. The farmed near Kingsley until 1958, when they purchased a farm in Loyal where they raised their family.

After retiring from the farm in 1990, he and Margaret moved into Loyal. They spent several winters in Mesa, Ariz. Gene always kept busy driving tractor for a farmer friend, woodworking and wood carving. He enjoyed his family, camping trips and football, especially the Green Bay Packers. He entered Continental Manor in Abbotsford in April, 2005.

He was a member of St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Loyal, and a member and past Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus Lady of Fatima Council No. 4963. Gene was very involved in activities with the youth, serving as Cub Scout master, 4-H project leader and teaching hunter safety. He was instrumental in establishing the Clark County 4-H carcass show. Gene served on the Loyal School Board, 4-H Leaders Federation and Clark County Fair Board, serving terms as president of the federation and the fair board. He was a former member of the Loyal FFA Alumni. Gene was member of the VFW Post No. 2241 in Neillsville, and a member of the Loyal American Legion Post No. 175, Loyal, having served as oratorical chairman for 20 years and one year as the state oratorical chairman. He was very proud of the four state winners for Loyal High School.

Gene is survived by his wife Margaret, of Loyal, his children, William (Elis) Artz of Urbana Ill., and their children Mary and Michael; Roman (Laure) Artz of La Crosse and their daughters Alanna and Caitlin; Michael (Linda) Artz of Oshkosh, and their children Laura and David Schaefer; Mary Artz of Chippewa Falls; Gerald (Lori) Artz of Chippewa Falls, and the children Garrick, Mitchell and Hannah; Suzanne (Terry) Sitka of La Crosse, and their children Dylan and Alexis. He is further survived by two sisters; Cleo Taplin of Denver, Colo., and Joan (Ted) Wilding of Ballwin, Mo.; and a sister-in-law, Hilma Arts of Cherokee, Iowa.

Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by two brothers, Ralph and Ted Arts, and one sister, Theo Ashton.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the House of the Dove, Alzheimer's Research Foundation or other groups designated by the family.