Allamakee Biographies -Resident Biographies

Nursing Home Resident Biographies
Interviews featuring residents at the Postville Good Samaritan home and other vicinity homes.

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Transcribed by S. Ferrall for Allamakee co. IAGenWeb
Any notes following the biographies were added by S. Ferrall.

Frieda Schultz was born July 18, 1886 in Clayton County. She was one of a family of 15 children, 12 of whom grew to adulthood.

She married Carl Schultz in her parents home which is now the funeral home in Monona. Their family includes Gordon Schultz and Ramona Krambeer both of Monona. They also have three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Carl and Frieda's 70th wedding anniversary was on June 29 and although Frieda was in the hospital at the time she ha some of their special cake.

Frieda has always loved flowers and helped with the floral exhibits at the Clayton County Fair for many years. She enjoyed card parties - especially bridge. Frieda's variety of interest shows in that fishing was one of her greatest joys. She was also an avid high school sports fan with basketball rating tops.

She is a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church at Monona and her faith is a great strength for her.

Elsie Kaiser from Monona and Irene Hoferer of Cedar Rapids are sisters who mean a lot to her.

Frieda is the newest memer of the Good Samaritan family, having joined us Aug. 29th. She had kept house until about five years ago. She has a fine sense of humor that surfaces at unexpected moments and adds joy to everyday life.

~Postville Herald, Wednesday, December 10, 1980 (column: Resident of the Month, Good Samaritan Center, Postville, Iowa)

Frieda's death notice (I did not find a full obituary)

The June spotlight focuses on John C. Schutta as the resident of the month at the Good Samaritan Center.

He was born May 1, 1887 near Gunder, the son of Fred and Marie Schutta. He had two brothers, a half brother and a half sister.

In the spring of 1892 the family moved to Frankville. Here he attended school, and lived in or near Frankville until moving to the Good Samaritan Center.

On October 7, 1915 he was married to Ellen Ewing. They had one son Robert Calvin who died in infancy.

He farmed the home place near Frankville until 1933. At that time he moved to Frankville and remained there till the fall of 1970 when he moved to the Good Samaritan Center. After his wife died in 1963 he lived alone in Frankville. He has been a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church since 1902.

Going to the South Dakota Fair in 1905 was a memorable trip for John and his wife. [date typed as in article]

John is active in all the activities at the Center.

~Postville Herald, Wednesday, June 19, 1974 (column: Resident of the Month, Good Samaritan Center, Postville, Iowa)

~John C. Schutta's obituary
~Ellen (Ewing) Schutta's obituary

Sevena Louise Schutta (Sawvelle) was bon in 1896 to John and Mary Sawvelle, German farmers of Waukon. Sevena had one sister and a brother. The family moved to Postville after her father's death.

She attended school in Postville and went to teachers college in Cedar Falls for one year. After teaching four years at South Grove country school, Sevena married Herman Schutta in September of 1918.

They had a son, Durwood, who now resides in Postville with his wife Donna. A grandson, Joel, is in college.

Sevena belonged to Eastern Star, Rebeccas and is a 30 year member of Lutheran Church Women. She attends St. Paul Lutheran Church weekly with her family.

An active woman, Sevena is a great socializer and a pleasant conversationalist. Her sense of humor keeps everyone at the Good Samaritan Center light hearted.

~Postville Herald, Wednesday, March 5, 1980 (column: Resident of the Month, Good Samaritan Center, Postville, Iowa)

Seneva's obituary
Herman Schutta's obituary

Enjoying the atmosphere of the Good Samaritan Center in Postville is peppy little Elizabeth E. Smith. She has been a resident three years.

Born April 15, 1880 on the family farm halfway between Monona and Luana, she was the youngest daughter of Esther Olmsted and Melvin Davis. Her grandfather was Phineas Page Olmsted, a native of Vermont, and the first settler in Monona. His friends were a band of two hundred Indians, their leader, Whirling Thunder.

Elizabeth received her education in Monona, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota and Simmons College, Boston. In 1904 she entered the Masachusetts General Hospital at Boston and the New York lying-in-hospital, graduating as a trained nurse in 1907. Her work continued in Boston, Supt. of the Home Hospital, Lafayette, Indiana and later in Monona.

In 1917 she married Horace H. Smith. He died in 1948. For the next few years Elizabeth became a world traveler, attending the Women's Club World Convention at Geneva, Switzerland, sightseeing in Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany and England, then an extended trip to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and back to the states.

A few years later, Elizabeth with nine others, flew 27,000 miles around the world visiting many countries of interest. When Alaska became the 50th state she joined a party of 22 and presented the flag of Iowa to Governor Egan at the governor's mansion in Juneau, Alaska. At Kotzebue she said they became acquainted with the Eskimoes, panned for gold, had a dog sled ride and even ate blubber.

She walks a mile daily and she calls it her walk to health.

Mrs. Smith was a member of the Congregational Church, Monona and later became affiliated with the Pilgrim Evangelical. She is very thankful to have been brought up in a Christian home.

~Postville Herald, Wednesday, November 7, 1973 (column: Resident of the Month, Good Samaritan Center, Postville, Iowa)

~Elizabeth's obituary
~Horace H. Smith's obituary

Lydia Failes Sunderman was born on July 17, 1885, near Lansing, Iowa, in a little village called Dalby. She received her education in the Dalby school after which she excelled as a seamstress and worked in a millinery shop in Lansing.

She married Fred Sunderman on October 19, 1904. He was born in Germany and came to the States as a small boy. After their marriage, Mr. Sunderman worked as a butcher in Waukon until his death. They had three sons and one daughter of whom two sons are deceased. A son, Kermit, lived in Waukon and her daughter, Bernita Hopewill,lives in Netcong, N.J. She has one granddaughter, two gransons and one great-granddaughter. Her husband died in November of 1958.

Lydia was an active member of the Evangelical Church and sang in the choir. She was a news reporter for the Lansing Mirror newspaper which was owned by George Metcalf, now deceased.

She was the eldest of 11 children, and her youngest brother, Edward, is the only survivor. He resides in Kansas City, Ks.

Lydia has a lovely smile and we enjoy her. She loves music, dancing and sing-a-longs, and her toes keep tapping rhythm to any music. She especially enjoys hymn-singing.

She became a resident at Hillcrest in October of 1975.

~Sumner Gazette, January 27, 1977 (Hillcrest Home Resident of the Week column, Sumner, Iowa)

Note: She died at age 93, December 24, 1978 and is buried in Oakland (Main) cemetery, Waukon.