Obit: Niemiec, Ralph J. (1921 - 2007)

Contact: Shari Hahn
Email: steppinwest@elknet.net

Surnames: NIEMIEC HOLDA ABRAMCZAK KOEHLER OELHAFEN STROZ ANDERSON

----Sources: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wood Co., Wis.) 09/12/2007

Niemiec, Ralph J. (31 Mar. 1921 - 8 Sept. 2007)

THORP -- Ralph Joseph Niemiec, 86, of Thorp died Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007, at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield.

Services were held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, at St. Bernard-St. Hedwig's Catholic Church in Thorp. Burial was in New St. Hedwig's Catholic Cemetery.

Visitation was from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a 7:30 p.m. Rosary service, Monday at the funeral home and from 9:30 a.m. until service time Tuesday at the church.

He was born March 31, 1921, in Stevens Point to Stanley and Aneila (Holda) Niemiec. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in August 1942 and served aboard the frigate "New Bedford," escorting convoys in the Atlantic Ocean to Algiers, North Africa. He was shipped to Guam for weather patrol duty from the end of World War II until his discharge in March 1946. He married Helen Abramczak at St. Hedwig's Catholic Church on May 7, 1949. They moved to Chicago and worked there until retiring in 1974. They then moved to Rock Dam.

He is survived by his wife, Helen Niemiec, Thorp; six children, Kenneth (Susan) Niemiec, Oak Lawn, Ill., Janice (Bill) Koehler, Tinley Park, Ill., Deb (Scott) Oelhafen, New Lenox, Ill., Ronald (Stacy) Nemiec, Orland Park, Ill., Denise (John) Stroz, Chicago Ridge, Ill., and Karen (Jeff) Anderson, Wisconsin Rapids; 15 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; and his sister, Bernice Niemiec, Sun City, Ariz.