Obit: Laabs, Emil (1878 - 1966)

Contact:  Debbie Mann

Email: Debbie@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames:  Laabs, Kasper, Klessig, Schultz, Hurth, Lehmann

----Source: Tribune-Phonograph (Abbotsford, Clark Co., Wis.) 10/06/1966

Laabs, Emil (14 Oct 1878 - 25 Sep. 1966)

Funeral service for Emil A. Laabs, 87, Colby, were held Wednesday, Sept. 28, at the First United Church of Christ, Colby.  The Rev. Kenneth Dix officiated and burial was in the Colby Memorial cemetery.  Funeral arrangements were handled by Lulloff Funeral Home.

Mr. Laabs died Sunday, Sept. 25, at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Marshfield, where he had been a patient since last June.

Music during the service was provided by Mrs. Alen Duvall, accompanied by Ronald Buss at the organ.  Pallbearers were grandsons of the deceased, Kenneth Kasper, Unity; Jerome Kasper, Fond du Lac; Gerald Klessig, Mankata, Minn.; Albert Schultz, Thorp; Leroy Schultz, Stevens Point, and Richard Hurth of Park Falls.

Emil August Laabs was born Oct. 14, 1878, in the town of Green Grove.  As a young man he entered the cheese making business, which during his lifetime included the establishment of 16 cheese factories in Clark County.

His marriage to Lulu Lehmann took lace June 16, 1909, at New London.  Mrs. Laabs died Feb. 21, 1957. Following their marriage they lived in Curtiss where Mr. Laabs and his brother Fred, built Laabs Cheese Factory.  Fred Laabs and his sons continued with the Curtiss factory after Emil took over another cheese factory at Longwood.  In 1926, Mr. Laabs bought the Dorchester Cheese Factory, one mile south of Dorchester, where he loved until his retirement in 1944, when he moved to Colby.

Mr. Laabs was for many years a director of the Dorchester State Bank and a director of the Withee State Bank.  He was a member of the First United Church of Christ at Colby and at the time of his death, was the oldest member.

Surviving are a son, Norbert, Dorchester; three daughters, Mrs. Albert (Elvera) Schultz, Curtiss, Mrs. Harold (Olive) Klessig, Colby, and Mrs. Harold (Fern) Kasper, Marshfield; 10 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren; two brothers, Arthur, Neillsville, and Ferdinand, Pocatello, Idaho.  He was  preceded in death by his wife, five brothers, and a sister.