Obit: Walsdorf, Joseph A. #2 (1889 - 1960)

Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Walsdorf, Wagner, Brunner

----Source: THORP COURIER (Thorp, Clark County, Wis.) 05/19/1960

Walsdorf, Joseph A. #2 (2 AUG 1889 - 26 APR 1960)

Joseph A. Walsdorf, 70, of Bradenton, Fla., passed away at the Bradenton Veterans Hospital of cerebral hemorrhage on April 26, 1960.  Previous to his entrance to the hospital he had suffered two strokes which affected his eyesight.

Mr. Walsdorf was born in Thorp (Clark Co., Wis.) on Aug. 2, 1889, the son of the late William and Lena Walsdorf.  He attended the local schools and as a young man took up the trade of harness maker.  He worked at this trade in various cities in Minnesota and later returned to Thorp to work in the local Banderob Harness Shop and assume the management of the Thorp Opera House, where he ran weekly moving picture shows.  He later operated the Thorp Bottling Works in partnership with Jos. Neiman.  He worked as an automobile mechanic for several years and in 1915 built the Thorp Auto Co. garage on Washington St. in Thorp in partnership with Hugo Holzhausen.  This now houses the Thorp Sales and Service Ford garage.

On June 15, 1914, he was united in marriage with Florence Wagner at Thorp.  They moved to Milwaukee in March 1928 where Mr. Walsdorf was employed in a machine shop and also operated a grocery store for a period of time.  He had been witht eh Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Co. for the past ten years before retirement in 1955.

In that year he and his wife moved to Bradenton, Fla., where he made his home until death.

He is survived by his wife, Florence of Bradenton and one sister, Mrs. Edith Brunner of Thorp.  One brother, Louis, preceded him in death.

Funeral services were held Thursday, April 28^th at ten a.m. in Bradenton and burial was made at Skyway Memorial Gardens, Bradenton.