Dorothea Papke

Dorothea Papke, age 91, of Sabula, Iowa died Thursday, October 11, 2007 at Mercy Medical Center, Clinton, Iowa after a short illness. A Funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at Calvary Lutheran Church in Sabula, Iowa, with Reverend Robert Krueger officiating. Interment will take place in Evergreen Cemetery, Sabula. Visitation will be held from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 16, 2007, at Law Jones Funeral Home, Sabula, Iowa. A luncheon will be provided at the church after the interment. Memorials may be given to the Calvary Lutheran Church in Dorothea’s memory.

A native of Westgate in Fayette County, Mrs. Papke was born to Otto and Mathilda Stahl Raether on November 7, 1915. She was educated at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, and worked as a rural elementary school teacher in the Marshalltown area, where she met her husband of 53 years, Ray Papke of Sabula. They were married in Westgate in1941 and lived in Washington D.C. and Chicago, where Ray was employed by the U.S. Railroad Retirement Bureau. Their son, Richard was born in Chicago in 1942. After his service in the U.S. Army in Europe from 1943 to 1946, Ray returned and the young family settled in Sabula.

Mrs. Papke was at various times, a School Teacher, Sunday school teacher, farm wife, and the proprietor of Papke’s Sundries in Sabula from 1961-80. She was a charter member of Calvary Lutheran Church in Sabula, where she remained active until her death. She was also a member of the board of directors of the Krabbenhoft Public Library in Sabula.

Dorothea is survived by her son; Richard (Anne) Papke of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; a granddaughter Joan Papke of Denver; a grandson, Alex Papke of Belgrade, Serbia; a brother, Louis Raether of St. Louis, Missouri; and nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband and an infant son, Curtis Ray Papke.