Jean M. Koelzer

Jean M. Koelzer, 102, Seneca, KS, died early Friday morning, March 31, 2006, at a Seneca care home.
     She was born April 28, 1903, on a farm / cattle ranch southeast of Axtell, KS, the daughter of Frederick W. Sr. and Clara Sophia Rastle Severin. Jean grew up there and helped with the younger children in the family. She attended St. Mary's Academy at Leavenworth, Loretta Academy at Kansas City, and St. Michael's High School at Axtell.
     On September 14, 1926, she married Frederick Koelzer at St. Michael's Church, Axtell. They lived in Axtell and Seneca and were later divorced. She celebrated her 100th birthday with her nieces and nephews at David Lauer’s home in Seneca.
     Jean was employed by the National Youth Administration from 1937 to 1942. In 1942 she moved to Houston, TX., where she was employed by G. W. White Construction Company as an invoice clerk. She returned to Kansas City, MO. in 1944 where she was employed by Riss & Co. in the accounts receivable department until 1961. Jean was employed by Associated Grocers in the accounts payable department from 1961 until her retirement in 1968. Following her retirement in Kansas City, she moved to St. Joseph, MO., where she was a cook at the St. Francis Xavier parish house for a year.
     In 1969 she moved to Seneca, where she lived with and cared for her sister, Geneva Lauer, and helped at the Lauer Funeral Home for many years. She also did church and social work in the area assisting others until she lost her eyesight. Despite blindness, she kept up with local, state, and national issues with the help of the Society for the Blind, and was always very well informed. While pretty much totally blind and in her 80s, she continued to bake pies to order and birthday cakes whether you wanted one or not. While blind, she was also walking to church, and up at the Lauer house all the time, answering the phones, doing dishes unasked, and entertaining the kids and pets. After breaking a hip in 1997, she became a resident of Life Care Center.
      Jean never thought much about being a cattle rancher's daughter, preferring instead to think of herself as a "city girl," from the many years she spent living and working in Kansas City. Her given name was Regina, but she had that legally changed to Jean, to the delight of her grand-nephews and nieces, who periodically changed it back to Regina to tease her. She had a sly wit until the very end. At her 100th birthday party, she was asked "Who was President when you were born?" And she answered, "I don't know, I was just a baby."
     She was a member of Sts. Peter & Paul Church and St. Ann's Altar Society, the Seneca Memorial Post #7458 of the VFW Auxiliary, the Nemaha Valley Community Hospital Guild, and the Nemaha County Historical Society.
      Survivors are five grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nephews, nieces, and many grand-nephews and nieces who also called her "Aunt Jean".
    She was preceded in death by an adopted son Richard on April 22, 1993, six brothers, Urban, Bernard, J. H. "Hank," James, Fr. Francis Severin SJ, and Frederick Severin; two sisters, Geneva Lauer and Anna Marie Gruetze; a great-grandson, Michael Saylor; and a nephew, David Lauer.
    The mass of Christian burial will be 10 AM Tuesday, April 4, at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca. The burial will be in St. Michael’s Cemetery at Axtell. The rosary will be prayed at 2 & 7 PM on Monday, April 3, at the Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca, where she will lie in state after 8:30 AM on Monday.
    Memorials may be given for St. Michael’s Cemetery or the Xavier Society for the Blind.