Obit: Thoma, Bertha (1871 - 1943)

Contact: Crystal Wendt
Email: crystal@wiclarkcountyhistory.org  

Surnames: Thoma, Scheel, Schumann, Quast May, Lippold, Bauer, Dudei, Krueger, Koepple, Borchardt, Gall, Kalsow, Korn

----Source: The Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) 14 Oct. 1943

Thoma, Bertha (17 Dec. 1871 - 8 Oct. 1943)

Mrs. Bertha Thoma, daughter of the late William and Anna (Quast) Scheel, passed away suddenly at her home in Neillsville on Friday, October 8, at the age of 71 years. She had recently undergone an operation, and was apparently recovering, when she suddenly became very ill and passed away quickly.

Funeral services were held on Monday, October 11, in the Immanuel Lutheran Church at Globe, and was conducted by the Rev. Adolph Schumann, interment being made in the Globe Cemetery.

Mrs. Thoma was born in Brandenburg, Germany, on December 17, 1871. She came to America with her parents at the age of eleven years, and has resided in Clark County since that time. She received her religious training at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Neillsville, and was confirmed in that church at the age of fifteen years.

On November 3, 1891, she was united in marriage will William B. Thoma at Globe, the service taking place in the first house of worship, a log house. Their place of residence was the home now occupied by her son, John, in the town of Weston. Their first years were filled with the hardships of pioneer life, yet with painstaking toil and thrift a fine farm was made of the timber land.

Five children, four sons and a daughter completed the family of the deceased. The eldest son, George, preceded the mother in death at the age of eight. When her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Arthur Thoma, passed away leaving three small children, Grandma Thoma mothered this group of grandchildren for thirteen years.

On November 3, 1941, Mr. and Mrs. Thoma celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary at the old home in the town of Weston. Mr. Thoma preceded his wife in death on January 13, 1942, and since that time she has resided with her eldest sister, Mrs. Mary Dudei, in Neillsville. For half a century she has been a faithful member of Immanuel Lutheran Church at Globe.

Those nearest of kin mourning her death are three sons and one daughter: Arthur of Berlin, Wis.; Frank and John of the town of Weston, and Lilly, Mrs. Fred Appleyard of the town of Pine Valley. There are 15 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren, also five sisters and one brother, Mrs. Mary Dudei and Mrs. Martha Gall, Neillsville; Mrs. Ida Kalsow, town of Weston; Mrs. Clara Korn, Seward, Nebr.; Mrs. Anna May, St. Paul, Minn.; and Louis Scheel, Peshtigo, Wis. Two sisters and four brothers preceded her in death.

Pallbearers were five grandsons and a nephew, Gerhardt Scheel, who took the place of a grandson, Donald Thoma, who is in the U. S. Army.

Out of town relatives who were here for the funeral were: Mrs. W. M. May and son and daughter, St. Paul; Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lippold and two daughters, and Mrs. Herman Bauer, Hortonville; Mr. and Mrs. Ben Dudei, Rice Lake; Rev. and Mrs. Krueger, Marshfield; Mr. and Mrs. George Koepple, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Koepple, and Mrs. Louis Borchardt, Helenville.