Henry V. Wessel
Henry V. Wessel, 87, of Hiawatha, Kansas, died Saturday, August 31,
2002, at the Hiawatha Community Hospital.
He
was born September 16, 1914, the son of August and Elizabeth Osterhaus
Wessel on a farm northwest of Baileyville, Kansas. He grew up there,
attended Sacred Heart Grade School, and worked on the family farm and
at the CCC camp south of Seneca.
On November 20, 1945, he married Gertrude
Akin at St. Michael's Church at Axtell, Kansas. They were divorced in
1968. She died November 11, 1992.
They lived south of Seneca, where they
farmed and operated a dairy business. In the spring of 1948 they moved
to a farm south of Goff. Henry lost his right arm in a corn picker accident
in 1952, but this did not stop him from doing his daily work. In December
1963 they moved to the Long Lane, Missouri area and later farmed and
had dairies in the Buffalo and Louisburg areas of Missouri. In 1970
he returned to a farm north of Seneca, Kansas. Besides farming and operating
a dairy, he had a trenching business. Henry retired from farming in
1972 and moved to Goff, KS, where he continued to do some trenching.
On October 30, 1993, he married Elsie
Richmond Savage at Wetmore, KS. They moved to Hiawatha. She survives
of the home.
He was a member of St. Ann's Catholic
Church at Hiawatha and the Brown County Senior Citizen's, where he played
cards and visited with friends.
Survivors besides his wife, Elsie, are
two sons, Cletus Wessel of Salem, Nebraska, and Fred Wessel of Sabetha;
seven daughters, Anna Marie Segenhagen and Emma Jean Krogmann, both
of Wetmore, Elizabeth "Betty" Vest of Long Lane, MO, Florence
"Flo" Brown of Louisburg, MO, Theresa Marie Sherman of Peru,
NE, Rita Weir of Portland, OR, and Julie Gakle of Topeka; two brothers,
Albert "Bert" Wessel and Norbert Wessel both of Frankfort,
KS; five sisters, Helen Hermesch, Eileen Duryea, Hilda Bergman, and
Lucille Tanking, all of Seneca, KS and Alma Dwerlkotte of Marysville,
KS; 38 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren.
The mass of Christian burial will be at
St. Patrick's Church at Corning, KS at 10 A.M. Wednesday, September
4, 2002. The burial will be in St. Patrick's Cemetery. The rosary will
be prayed at Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca on Tuesday at 2 P.M. and at
7 P.M. He will lie in state at the funeral home after 4 P.M. on Monday.
Memorial contributions may be given for
the Hiawatha Community Hospital or St. Patrick's Cemetery and sent in
care of the family.