OBITUARY:
Hildegard Frieda, second daughter of Ida Louisa (Augustin) and Edward Gustav Kletke, was born on the Kletke farm seven miles northwest of Alva.She passed away at the Alva Beadles Nursing Home on the 27th of February at the age of 96 years, 11 months, and 9 days.
At the age of thirteen her parents moved to New Mexico where she attended grade school and Highlands University High School. She taught in rural Spanish communities for five years before returning to Highland University where she received a two-year college diploma. She also attended summer sessions at Northwestern State in Alva and Columbia University in New York City. Miss Kletke taught school for an additional 20 years in New Mexico.
Miss Kletke was married to Julius Kirmse on August 19,1951 at the AlvaZion Lutheran Church. They lived on a farm south of Alva for the next 18years before moving to a home in town.
Hildegard was a member of the Alva Zion Lutheran Church, Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, Delta Kappa Gamma and the Delta Zeta Sororities.
Mrs. Kirmse was preceded in death by her parents, a granddaughter, Amber Joy Frazer. three sisters, Margareta Kletke, Erna Randall, and Ella Engelken, three brothers, Ernest and Erick, and Harold.
Hildegard is survived by two stepdaughters and their husbands, Donna and B.J. Martin of Austin, Texas, and Judy and Ronald Yordi of Colorado,and a stepson and his wife, Dale and Sue of Gainesville. Florida. Six granddaughters and their husbands, Karen and Andy Ralston, Kathy and Keith Russ, Kristina Kirmse, Dana and Ken Bush, Cori and Andrew Wendt and Carmen Yordi. One grandson, Kevin Kirmse. Two great-grandsons, Patrick and Richard Ralston, and one great-granddaughter, Erica Ralston. A sister, Martha Tecklenburg of Gallup, New Mexico. Many nieces, nephews,and other relatives.
From “In Memory of Hildegard F. Kirmse,” March 2, 2002