Obit: Grether, David #4 (1889 - 1945)

Contact: Stan

Surnames: Grether, Jabenz, Stucki, Stuebbe, Gress, Wolfley

----Sources: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark County, Wis.) 05/24/1945

Grether, David #4 (15 July 1889 - 21 May 1945)

Rev. David Grether, pastor of the First Evangelical and Reformed church of Colby and the Peace church at Curtiss, died suddenly on Monday morning at 5:00 a.m., the result of a heart attack, at the age of 55 years. Funeral services will be held at the First Ev. and Reformed church Friday afternoon at 1:30 P.M., Rev. E. C. Jabenz, president of the North Wisconsin Synod of the Ev. and Reformed church, officiating, and internment will be made in the Indian Mission cemetery at Black River Falls, Wis.

Rev. Grether was born in Poland, Indiana, on July 15, 1889. He graduated from the Mission House Theological Seminary at Plymouth, Wis., in 1915. He served the Zion church in Neillsville and St. John’s church at Humbird from 1915 to 1925 and the Salem church at Magley, Indiana, for 17 years before coming to Colby in September, 1942. He was married to Anna Marie Stucki, daughter of Rev. Jacob Stucki, pioneer missionary among the Winnebago Indians at Black River Falls, on August 30, 1916, at Black River Falls. At the time of his death, he was president of the Wausau regional conference of Ev. and Reformed church.

Surviving besides his widow are five children - Rev. Jacob W. Grether of Delmont, S. Dak., Lt. (j.g.) David Frank Grether, with the U.S. navy in the Pacific, Mrs. Calvin (Marie) Stuebbe of Schaller, Ia,, Mrs. Albert (Ruth) Gress of Dayton, Ohio, and Miss Grace Grether of Milwaukee. Also surviving are his mother, Mrs. William Grether of Loveland, Colo., Miss Eulalla Grether, a returned missionary from Egypt now of Calif., and Mrs. David Wolfley of Loveland, Colo., and two brothers, Rev. Mark Grether of Fort Collins, Colo., and Prof. Ewald Grether of Berkeley, Calif. There are three grand children.

The deceased had not been seriously ill and conducted church services Sunday. His sudden death was a shock to the entire community as he was well-liked by all who knew him.