Alvina G. Rettele

Alvina G. Rettele, 94, of Seneca, died early Thursday morning, July 31, 2008 at Eastridge Nursing Home in Centralia.
      Alvina was born March 7, 1914, the daughter of Bernard and Pauline Renneger Heinen, on a farm two miles east of Kelly. She attended school at St. Bede’s Catholic School in Kelly. After school, she worked for area mothers and helped on the family farm.
      On September 6, 1938, she married Mathias Rettele at St. Bede’s Catholic Church in Kelly. As a young couple, they lived on a farm near Kelly for five years before moving to a farm south of Seneca. In 1972, they moved into Seneca. The couple celebrated 53 years of marriage, before Mathias died on July 31, 1992, exactly 16 years prior to Alvina’s date of death.                                                                                                 
      Alvina worked at the Gilford Hotel in Seneca, and also for Cyril Lauer, cleaning the funeral home. For a number of years she helped her sister clean Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Seneca.
      She was a member of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church and St. Ann’s Alter Society in Seneca.
      She is survived by her two daughters, Patricia (Clayton) Hammes of Topeka, and Barbara (Marlin) Ronnebaum of Seneca; a brother, Sylvester Heinen of  Seneca; a sister, Eleanor Ronnebaum of Seneca; three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren
      She was preceded in death by six brothers, Lambert, Clem, Joseph, Lawrence, Albert, and Clarence; and four sisters, Julia Conrad, Ottilia Rice, Isabel Wilhelm, and Ann Heinen.
      A rosary will be prayed at 2 PM Sunday, August 3, at Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca.  Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 AM on Monday at Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Seneca, with burial in the church cemetery.
      Memorials may be given for the Sts. Peter & Paul Building Fund, and sent in care of the family.