Obit: Reinke, Lee #3 (1931 - 1955)

Contact: Stan

Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Reinke, Dempsey, Owens

----Source: OWEN ENTERPRISE (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 8/04/1955

Reinke, Lee #3 (6 DEC 1931 - 31 JUL 1955)

Residents of this community (Owen, Clark Co., Wis.) are grieving over the untimely death of one of its younger citizens, Lee Reinke, 23, who passed away late Sunday afternoon at Victory Memorial Hospital, Stanley.  Although he had been ill and undergone major surgery twice within the past year he had been hospitalized only four days before his death.

Funeral services were held at two o’clock this afternoon from the First Congregational Church, Owen, with Reverends Robert Olson of Marshfield and Ralph Claybaugh, Owen, officiating.  Burial was made at Riverside Cemetery.

Lee was well known in the community, having been employed for the past couple of years by Mauel’s Dairy as their route man.  Until plagued by his illness he was a strong muscular chap that excelled as an athlete during his high school days as a football and basketball player, and of late years was a regular on Owen’s baseball team.

He was born on Dec. 6, 1931, at Gillett, Wis., and received his education in the Thorp Public school system.  On Sept. 16, 1950, he was united in marriage to Donna Mae Dempsey, in a ceremony performed in the parsonage of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Thorp, of which congregation he had been a lifelong member.

In addition to his many friends and relatives of the Owen and Thorp communities he is survived by his wife and three children, Vickie Leigh, Gary and Thomas, all at home; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Reinke, Thorp; a brother, Walter Reinke, Jr., Medford; three sisters, Mrs. Pierce (Carol) Owens, Withee; and Nancy and Ruth Reinke, both of Thorp.

An unusually large number of friends and relatives paid tribute to his friendship by calling at Hoeper and Kraut Funeral Home where his body laid in state Tuesday and Wednesday.