Obituaries

Dolores M. Spiegler, 86, of Waukon died Thursday, September 10, 2015 at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. Funeral services were held Monday, September 14 at St. John's Lutheran Church in Waukon, with Rev. Lynn G. Groe officiating. Burial was at Oakland Cemetery, Waukon.
Dolores May Zupke Spiegler was born May 9, 1929 in rural Sumner, the daughter of Edward and Mable (Timm) Zupke. She was baptized at St. Paul's Richfield Lutheran Church in rural Sumner. She and her family moved to Milwaukee, WI while her father attended barber school. They lived in Eastman, WI for a short time before moving to Waukon in 1934.
Dolores was confirmed at St. John's Lutheran Church in Waukon and graduated from Waukon High School in 1946. After graduation she went to La Crosse, WI and worked as a nurse's aide at the Lutheran Hospital until 1948. She then returned to Waukon and worked for Dr. R.H. Wheat as a dental assistant. Dolores worked there before she was married and after.

Scott Adam, age 47, of Calmar died Thursday, September 3, 2015 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, MN. Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday, September 9 at Calmar Lutheran Church, Calmar, with Pastor Phillip Olson and Rev. Sue Klimstra officiating. Burial will be in the Calmar Lutheran Cemetery, Calmar.
Visitation will be held from 3-7 p.m. Tuesday, September 8 at the Schluter-Balik Funeral Home, French Chapel in Calmar and also after 10 a.m. at the church Wednesday morning prior to services.
Scott William Adam was born May 8, 1968 in Waukon. He was adopted and raised by David and Calleen (Hook) Adam, and he was baptized November 30, 1975 and confirmed April 22, 1984 at the Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in rural Postville. While in high school, he was active in FFA and 4-H.  He graduated from Postville High School in 1987.

Ralph T. “Buddy” Dougherty, 83, of Waukon died Thursday, September 3, 2015 at Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, WI. Funeral services were held Tuesday, September 8 at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Waukon, with Rev. Msgr. Cletus Hawes, Fr. Donald Hawes and Deacon Mike Ward officiating. Burial was at St. Mary's Lycurgus Cemetery, rural Waukon.
Ralph "Buddy" Thomas Dougherty was born December 11, 1931 on his parents' farm in rural Waukon, the son of John and Anna (Haas) Dougherty. He attended Makee country school and St. Patrick Catholic High School.
February 16, 1963, he married Janice Starkey at St. Mary’s Lycurgus Catholic Church in rural Waukon. Buddy farmed with his father for a few years. In 1970, he went to work for Bob Stilwell as a carpenter before he then worked many years for Gary Berger doing concrete work until 1991.

Jean Ann Mason, 90, of Waukon died Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at Good Samaritan Center in Waukon. Memorial services were held Saturday, September 5 at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Waukon, with Pastor Kim Gates officiating. Burial will be at Oakland Cemetery, Waukon.
Jean Ann Mason was born November 9, 1924 in Waukon, the daughter of Otto “Colby” P. and Edith Mae (Clark) Gleisner. Jean Ann graduated as Salutatorian in 1942 from Waukon High School. January 1, 1945, she married Keith W. Mason in Waukon on a -20 degree wintry day. Along with raising five children, Jean Ann worked at the East Elementary school as a librarian and also at the Iowa State Extension Office as a secretary.
She was a member of St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Waukon and volunteered at the Allamakee County Food Shelf. Jean Ann loved baking and making pies with the other church ladies. She also enjoyed weaving, gardening, and spending time with her family.

Gerald “Jerry” Duane Sivesind passed away Monday, August 17, 2015 in his hometown of Waukon at the age of 71.
Jerry was born February 21, 1944 to Josephine and Harold Sivesind. After serving in the Navy, he relocated to Bakersfield, CA with his wife, Mary. He spent over 30 years at the Bakersfield Californian newspaper, working his way up from the mail room to Production Manager. He helped care for countless children as a foster parent and still found time to coach baseball and soccer along the way.
Occasionally, he could be found, as he would call it, “resting his eyes.” But it wouldn’t be long until he had to be up cooking, cleaning, shopping or dragging the kids around to the seemingly never-ending list of activities.

Kenneth “Fishe” R. Fish, Sr., 72, of Harpers Ferry died peacefully Monday, August 24, 2015 at his home from cancer, surrounded by his family and friends. Memorial services were held Thursday, August 27 at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon with Deacon Pat Malanaphy, Chaplin with Crossing Rivers Health, officiating. Burial with military graveside rites conducted by the American Legion Post 305 took place at Smithfield Cemetery, rural Monona.
Kenneth Raymond Fish, Sr. was born October 5, 1942 in Moline, IL, the son of Raymond L. and Norma (Ziel) Fish. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1961, where he did his basic training at Camp Peldton, CA and mechanical training for helicopters in Memphis, TN. Ken was stationed in Santa Anna, CA before serving in Vietnam for 13 months with the 365th Squadron as a crew chief. He returned to the United States, where Ken was stationed in Cherry Point, NC.

Elizabeth Kepler Oelberg, 85, of Virginia Beach, VA, formerly of Hyattsville, MD, died Tuesday, August 25, 2015. Services were held at the Lynnhaven United Methodist Church in Virginia Beach, VA Saturday, August 29.
Born in Waukon, 'Lib' was the daughter of John and Lucille Eaton Kepler. She was preceded in death by her husband, George Robert Oelberg, who was born and raised in rural Luana. She was also preceded in death by her brother, John Kepler.
After graduating from Waukon High School, she attended Waukon Junior College briefly before being recruited to work for the FBI in Washington, DC. She and George married in 1951 in Washington, DC. Lib went to work for the Washington Hospital Center in 1966. Starting as a hospital nursing school house-mother, she rose to the position of director of the hospital visitor's residence until her retirement in 1996. Lib is remembered as being generous of spirit, warm and welcoming to all she met.

Virginia L. Thomson, 86, of Waukon died Saturday, August 29, 2015 at Good Samaritan Center in Waukon. Memorial services will be held Saturday, November 14 at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon, with Pastor Grant VanderVelden officiating. Private family burial will be held at Oakland Cemetery, Waukon. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to PEO Women's Scholarship Fund via PEO Chapter EK c/o Caroll Schreiber, Treasurer, 1942 French Creek Road, Lansing, IA 52151.
Martin Funeral Home in Waukon is handling arrangements for the family. Online condolences may be left at www.martinfunerals.com.
 

John Francis ‘Chick’ Smerud, 90, of New Albin passed away peacefully in his sleep at Thorton Manor in Lansing August 29, 2015. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church in New Albin Wednesday, September 9, with visitation from 9:30 a.m. until services begin at 11 a.m. The Rev. Fr. John Moser will officiate. Inurnment will be in the St. Joseph Cemetery.
John was born to Oscar and Clara (Wilde) Smerud and raised on a farm outside of New Albin. He was one of 11 children that included Sara, Edmund, Rosemary, Evangeline, Margaretta, Rita, George, Donald, Alfred and Clara-Louise. John attended country school and New Albin High School. It was at a friend’s gathering that he met a young woman named Rita Lyons. They married November 29, 1947.

Robert “Bud” Maust of New Albin died August 15, 2015 at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, WI. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, September 5 at St. Peter’s Church, New Albin with Rev. William Reese officiating. Visitation will be held from 4-8 p.m. Friday, September 4 at the New Albin Community Center as well as one hour before services. Burial will be at Oakhill Cemetery, Lansing, with military rites by the Lansing VFW Post 5981.