Verna A. Kueker 98, of Tripoli Nursing Home died on Friday, October 17, 2014.
Funeral Services will be held 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, October 22, 2014 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church-Artesian of rural Waverly with Rev. Keith Brustuen officiating. Interment will follow in the Church Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 21st, at Rettig Funeral Home in Tripoli and for one hour preceding services at the church on Wedneseday. Memorials may be given in her name to either St. Paul’s Lutheran Church-Artesian or the Tripoli Public Library.
Verna was born February 18, 1916, near Grand Meadows, Minnesota, daughter or William and Edith (Nicol) Hall. She graduated from Nashua High School in 1934. She was married to Earl Ratliff on December 25, 1938, at the Little Brown Church in Nashua. They were later divorced.
She married Victor Kueker, October 30, 1955 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church-Artesian. She was a longtime member of the church where she was confirmed and baptized.
Verna worked at Hinson’s and Chamberlains in Waterloo, during the war as a machinist. Later she helped on the farm. She loved nature, flowers, gardening, crocheting, cross-stitch, traveling, biking, and walking.
She and Victor farmed in the Tripoli area until retiring to Waverly in the fall of 1983. They enjoyed spending the winter months in McAllen, Texas located in the Rio Grande Valley. Verna enjoyed doing volunteer work and the social activities held in the park.
She became a resident of the Tripoli Nursing Home in November, 2003.
She is survived by seven children-two sons, Loren (Kathryn) Ratliff of Independence, Morris (Kathleen) Ratliff of New Boston, Missouri, five daughters, Elly Baldwin of Littleton, Colorado, Linda (Alan) Schwemm of Waverly, Karen (Kevin) Schmidt of Lakewood Colorado, Karla (Jim) Schwake of Sumner, and Lori (Chris) Anderson of Tripoli; many grandchildren; great-grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband in September of 1993; brothers, Howard, Lee, and Marvin “Bud”; her sister, Judith Schmidt; sisters-in-law, Eleanor and Norma Hall; and her son-in-law, Valgene Boeckmann in 1986.
