Obit: Nieminen, John Erik (1886 - 1975)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Nieminen, Santala, Kalbow, Keskimaki, Decker, Kalteren, Noble

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 5/15/1975

Nieminen, John Erik (12 December 1886 – 11 May 1975)

A former resident of the Finnish settlement northwest of Withee, John Erik Nieminen of Lake Worth, Fla., died May 11 at the age of 88 of heart and old age complications. Private services were to be held at Lakeside Funeral Chapel in Lake Worth. Following cremation, the ashes will be brought to the Riverside Cemetery, rural Withee, for burial.

John Nieminen was born in Kuhmalahti, Finland, on December 12, 1886, and came to Calumet, Mi., in 1909. He was married there on December 30, 1910, to the former Sanni Santala. Mrs. Nieminen preceded her husband in death on March 20 of this year.

Mr. Nieminen was blacksmith and farmer in the Withee area from 1913 until 1945. The couple retired to Lake Worth, where he worked as caretaker at the trailer park where they lived until recently.

Surviving are two daughters: Mrs. Theo (Tyrnie) Kalbow of Lake Worth, Fla., and Mrs. Martin (Vieno) Keskimaki of Withee; four grandchildren: Klay, Dale and Kurt Keskimaki and Carol Decker; and six great-grandchildren. He is also survived by one sister, Selma Kalteren of Redwood City, Ca., and by one sister-in-law, Hilda Santala of Withee.