"Resident of the
Month"
Interviews featuring residents at the Postville Good Samaritan
home.
- I -
Transcribed by S. Ferrall for Allamakee co.
IAGenWeb
All of the notes following the biographies were added by S.
Ferrall.
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Ida (Voelz) Gilster Ihde
Ida Ihde, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Voelz, was born in Hamburg, Germany on May 17, 1890. The family came to America by boat, when Ida was three years old. They made their home in Chicago for about two years and then moved to a farm near Volney.
Ida has two sisters and two brothers, Martha, Mrs. Gus Kregel of Postville; Marie, Mrs. Edgar Krueger of Farmersburg; Reinhold Voelz of Postville and Carl Voelz of Luana.
After her marriage Ida lived on a farm near Farmersburg. After her husband passed away she moved to town in Farmersburg where she lived until 1969 when she became a resident of the Postville Good Samaritan Center.
Ida has two daughters and one son, Harold Gilster of St. Paul, Minnesota; Lillian Moore of Dubuque and Irene Zahn of Tucson, Arizona. There are six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
~Postville Herald, Wednesday, March 21, 1973 (column: Resident of the Month, Good Samaritan Center, Postville, Iowa). There was not a photo with her biography.
Notes: Ida was the daughter of Albert & Emilie (Heller) Voelz. She married twice, 1st to George Gilster; and 2nd to August Ihde, which marriage ended in divorce.
~Ida Ihde's Obituary
~George Gilster died in Dec. 1923, Ida is buried in the Monona Lutheran cemetery with him.
~August Ihde's Obituary
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Katharine (Ulrich) Isenbarger
The February spotlight focuses on Katharine Isenbarger as the resident of the month at the Good Samaritan Center.
Born April 8, 1886 in Monona, the daughter of James and Sophia Ulrich, Katharine graduated from the Monona high school in 1904, and from Upper Iowa College in 1908, majoring in science. She later acquired her Masters Degree at the University of Chicago.
She began her teaching career in the high school in Oskaloosa and taught in Davenport, Little Rock, Arkansas and in Oak Park, Illinois, where she remained until her retirement in 1938.
In January of 1939, she was married to Jerome Isenbarger, who was also a science teacher in the Chicago school system and later was Dean of the Junior College in Evanston. Both Mr. and Mrs. Isenbarger served two year terms as president of the Central Mathematics and Science teachers association, which covered seven states. They spent their retirement years at their home on the North side of Chicago. Following her husband's death in May, 1969, Mrs. Isenbarger moved to Cedar Rapids and made her home with her sister and husband.
She became a resident at the Good Samaritan Center in July of 1970.
Mrs. Isenbarger was a teacher of considerable note having been accorded several awards for her ability as a teacher and administrator, being a favorite with both pupils and teachers.
~Postville Herald, Wednesday, February 6, 1974 (column: Resident of the Month, Good Samaritan Center, Postville, Iowa)
~Notes: She was the daughter of James Ulrich & Sophia Sitterly. Jerome Isenbarger died in 1969 and is buried in Hagerstown, IN; Katherine was his 2nd wife.
~Katherine Isenbarger's obituary
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