Obit: Graupner, Gertrude (1912 - 2009)

Contact: Audrey Roedl
Email: audero@charter.net

Surnames: Graupner, Boock, Aufderheide, Plath, Schapekahm, Busby

----Source: The Loyal TRG (Loyal, Clark County, Wis.) 18 Aug 2009-08-23

Graupner, Gertrude (17 JULY 1912-15 AUG 2009)

Gertrude Graupner, 97, formerly of Spencer, died peacefully on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009, at her residence at the Remembrance Home, Beaver Dam. She was in the midst of family throughout the week preceding her death. Visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m., on Friday, Aug. 21, at the Hansen-Schilling Funeral Home, Spencer, and on Saturday, Aug. 22 from 10 a.m. until the time of services at 11 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, Spencer. The Rev. Karl Rose will officiate. Interment will be at the West Spencer Cemetery.

Gertrude Ida Elizabeth Boock was born July 17, 1912, in Spencer, to Arthur and Emma (nee Aufderheide) Boock. Her father was the founder and first cashier of Spencer State Bank, established in 1908. She was the granddaughter of German immigrants who settled in New Ulm, Minn., in the mid-1800s.

Her paternal grandfather, Christian Friederich Boock (married Wilhelmine Plath), was a pioneering settler in New Ulm, a founder of Dr. Martin Luther College, a blacksmith and wagon maker. Her maternal grandfather, Frederick William Aufderheide (married Elise Schapekahm) founded the New Ulm Brick and Tile Company and also several banks in the New Ulm area.

When she was 3 years old, her parents returned to New Ulm where her father became the cashier of the newly founded Farmers and Merchants Bank of New Ulm. Subsequently, she attended schools there and graduated in 1933 from Dr. Martin Luther College with a teaching degree. During her college years, she competed on the girls basketball team, sang in the college choir, played tennis, performed in plays, and drove out to the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore with friends.

She taught for six years at St. John’s Lutheran School in Burlington, where she met Carl Paul Graupner, who had emigrated from Oberhausen, Germany, in 1923, at the age of 15. They were married on Aug. 5, 1939, at Trinity Lutheran Church, Spencer, and began their married life in Burlington, where her husband worked at the Kellogg/Pet Ice Cream Co. In 1948, they moved to Spencer to start a dairy farm. She had left teaching to raise a family, and resumed substitute teaching in the late 1950s and began full time at Spencer Elementary School in 1960. During this time, she completed a degree at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, graduating in 1963. She retired in 1977, after teaching 17 years in Spencer. Thus, she was able to contribute to the education of their children, all of whom graduated with degrees through the University of Wisconsin system.

They were active at Trinity Lutheran Church; she served as choir director, organist, held offices in the Ladies Aid, and was a quilter. She was an avid diarist, enjoyed family history research, frequently translated German letters and documents for friends and relatives, and loved board games and crossword puzzles. She hosted their growing family of 27 for visits and holidays, and shared a love for travel, bowling, and card playing with her husband and their friends. They frequently traveled to visit relatives in Germany. She also maintained close ties with her family in New Ulm and cherished memories from that historic city throughout her life. She is fondly remembered as positive, a people-person, kind and generous—qualities which persisted when her memory faded in later years.

Survivors include their six children, Dr. Kenneth (Patricia) Graupner, Beaver Dam; Philip Graupner, Bailey’s Harbor, James Graupner, Lake Elmo, Minn., John (Kathleen) Graupner, Wabasha, Minn., Cathryn (Edward) Busby, Park Falls, and Charles (Deborah) Graupner, Wauwatosa; 14 grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Hertha (Paul) Graupner, Braunschweig, Germany; cousins, Dr. Arthur and Mary Aufderheide, Duluth, and Marguerite Boock (Robert) Allen, Greenfield; nieces and nephews; other relatives and friends.

Preceding her in death were her husband, Carl, on Sept. 3, 1996; her sister, Esther Boock; and her brother, Norbert (Marian Oelrich) Boock.

Those wishing to send a memorial in her name may do so to the beaver Dam Community Hospital (BDCH) Foundation, designated to the remembrance Home, an Alzheimer’s redidence facility.

Online condolences may be made at www.hansenschillingfuneralhome.com.

Hansen-Schilling Funeral Home, Spencer, is assisting the family with arrangements.