Obit: Keller, Frieda #2 (1903 - 2002)

Contact: Linda Mertens

Email: mertens@wiclarkcountyhistory.org  

Surnames:  Keller, Freimuth, Schaefer, Edblom, Dettmering, Leahy, Schroeder, Gustum, Russell, Doege, Walkowiak, Schilling, Quelle, Darge, Telford

----Source - Helen Johnson's Scrapbook  

Frieda Catherine Keller (9 Nov 1903 – 22 Nov 2002)

Frieda “Fritz” Keller, 99, Dorchester, died Friday, Nov. 22, 2002, at her residence where she had lived since 1967.

Funeral services for Frieda will be at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Maurina Funeral Home. Rev. Jerome Freimuth will officiate and burial will be in Dorchester Memorial Cemetery. 

Grandchildren will serve as pallbearers, Terrance Schilling, Rodney Edblom, Jon Dettmering, Jerry Dettmering, Steve Leahy, and Tod Leahy.  Honorary pallbearers will be Julie (Dettmering) Schroeder, and Brenda (Leahy) Gustum.

Visitation with family and friends will be from noon until service time Monday at the funeral home.

Frieda Catherine Keller was born Nov. 9, 1903, in Thorp, the daughter of Herman and Clara (Russell) Doege.  She was a 1920 graduate of Thorp High School and after graduation continued to help her parents on the family farm in the town of Reseburg.

Frieda and Ambrose “Jake” Keller were united in marriage on Dec. 23, 1924, in Greenwood.  They farmed in the town of Colby until retiring in 1967 and moving to the village of Dorchester.

Frieda was a member of St. Peter Lutheran Church in Dorchester, the Clovernode Homemakers Club and the Senior Citizen Bowling League and Senior Citizens Club in Dorchester.  Lovingly known as Fritz, she won many awards in bowling which included Bowler of the Year in 1987-88, first place 1989-90 and 1995-96, and the oldest bowler 1990-91.  A homemaker, she enjoyed playing smear and sheepshead, dancing and making quilts and rugs for family.

She will be sadly missed by her loving family:  four daughters, Eileen Keller of Dorchester, Marcella Leahy of Chippewa Falls, Geraldine (Gerald) Walkowiak of Benson, Ariz., and Joan (John) Dettmering of Rapid City, Ill.  She also raised two grandsons, Terrance “Terry” (Sue) Schilling of Abbotsford and Rodney (Angela) Edblom of Unity; nine grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren; and her sister, Dora Quelle of Withee.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ambrose “Jake” Keller on Sept. 10, 1988; four brothers, Herman, Rinehold, Ernest and Edwin Doege and two sisters, Clara Darge and Alvina Telford.

Memorials in her name may be given to Marshfield Medical Research Foundation.