Obit: Church, Leah (1903 - 1982)

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

Surnames: Church, Zschernitz, Wildish, Opelt, Rodman, Bever, Barber, Sanford

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 11/25/1982

Church, Leah (14 December 1903 – 18 November 1982)

Longtime Town of Pine Valley farmwife, Leah Church, 78, passed away in Marshfield’s St Joseph’s Hospital on Thursday, November 18.

The deceased was born on December 14, 1903, in Neillsville to Allen and Bertha (Zschernitz) Wildish. She graduated from Neillsville High School and then worked in Milwaukee for several years. On November 25, 1926, she married George R. Church in Waukegan, Illinois ceremonies. The couple then moved to Neillsville where they lived for a few years before moving to a farm in the Town of Pine Valley. They operated the farm for 40 years.

Mrs. Church was a member of the Granton United Methodist Church, its Women’s Society, the Neillsville Gray Ladies and the Neillsville American Legion Auxiliary.

Surviving her, besides her husband, is a son, Eugene, West Allis; a daughter, Mrs. Donald (Sue) Opelt, Greenwood; three sisters, Mrs. Aline Rodman of College Place, Washington, Mrs. Anita Bever of Ft. Worth, Texas, and Mrs. Charles (Mariam) Barber of Dallas, Texas; a brother, John Wildish, Helena, Montana; ten grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by an infant daughter, three brothers and two sisters.

The Rev. Charles Sanford officiated at the Monday afternoon, November 22, funeral services held at the Gesche Funeral Home in Neillsville. Burial was made in the Neillsville City Cemetery. Pallbearers were grandsons.