Our mother’s [Ernestine (Sanders) Strelesky] body was sent to Dubuque for burial. I went with Aunt Norma – our mother’s wish. Our dad [Jack Strelesky] and Eunice, Alice and Herb went to Grandma Sanders [Josephine (Uhlrich) Sanders]. The flu epidemic was so bad everything was closed – schools, churches, department stores and all public buildings…
Category: dubuque, iowa
Marjorie Strelesky Journal, Part 3 of 6
One Christmas Aunt Norma spent with us. There were a lot of letters going back and forth between Alice Strelesky and Dubuque, so Alice knew Aunt Norma was there. When her box was opened there was a present for Grandma, Irene, Eunice and me but nothing for Aunt Norma. A.N. cried. In the early years…
Marjorie Strelesky Journal, Part 2 of 6
Before Vatican II the day before Christmas was a day of fast and abstance [sic, abstinence]so Christmas Eve for supper we had oyster stew. Then came Christmas Eve. The sheet was taken down between the living room (parlor as it was called) and dining room and we saw the Christmas tree for the first time….
Obituary for Gladys (Ray) Davis
Gladys Cecilia (Ray) Davis was the wife of Laban Davis, brother of my great-grandfather Percy. Gladys was 21 years old when she died in childbirth at Mercy Hospital in Dubuque, Dubuque Co, Iowa. Her baby girl died a few days later. The baby was not named. Mother and baby are buried together at Scales Mound…
Obituary: Celestine (Uhlrich) Hatzenbuhler
Celestine (Uhlrich) Hatzenbuhler was the daughter of Francis J. Uhlrich and Teresa Heid and sister of my gg-grandmother Mary Francis Josephine (Uhlrich) Sanders. She was born August 12, 1868, in Galena, Jo Daviess Co, Illinois. She was one of eight children. She married Joseph George Hatzenbuhler October 29, 1894. They had six children. She is…
Obituary: Marie (Strelesky) Smith
Marie (Strelesky) Smith was the daughter of Frank Strelesky and Fannie Hainey, and an older sister of my great-grandfather John Joseph Strelesky. She was born March 27, 1877, in Mineral Point, Iowa county, Wisconsin. She died August 21, 1942, in Dubuque, Dubuque county, Iowa. She married Theodore M. Smith in Sioux City, Iowa, on November…
Funeral: Josephine (Uhlrich) Sanders
Mary Francis Josephine (Uhlrich) Sanders, my gg-grandmother, died in Dubuque, Iowa, on January 12, 1935. Josephine, born September 28, 1859 in Rock Island, Illinois, was the oldest of eight children. Her parents were Francis Joseph and Theresa (Heid) Uhlrich. Josephine married Ernest Vincent Sanders on October 28, 1886, in Jo Daviess County, Illinois. They had…
Death: Ernestine (Sanders) Strelesky
My great-grandmother, Ernestine (Sanders) Strelesky, died of pneumonia, following an attack of influenza, during the Spanish flu pandemic. She was pregnant when she died in Sheridan, Wyoming, on February 5, 1920. She was 32. Ernestine is buried at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Dubuque, Iowa. Ernestine was born in Galena, Jo Daviess co, Illinois, on November…
Marriage: John Joseph Strelesky and Ernestine Bertha Sanders
My great-grandparents, John Joseph Strelesky and Ernestine Bertha Sanders, were married September 19, 1906, by a Catholic priest in Dubuque, Iowa. They had four children: Herb, Alice, Eunice and Marjorie. In 1920, Ernestine and her unborn child died of influenza in Sheridan, Wyoming, during the Spanish Flu pandemic.
Obituary: Eunice (Strelesky) Lightcap
Eunice Strelesky Eunice (Strelesky) Lightcap, daughter of John Joseph “Jack” and Ernestine (Sanders) Strelesky, was born in Sheridan, Wyoming, on December 21, 1915, and died on November 15, 1998, in Dubuque, Iowa. The picture at the left is her 1933 high school graduation. My grandmother’s obituary was published November 18, 1998, in the Telegraph Herald…
Obituary: John Joseph Strelesky
Up until now, I’ve really been focused on sharing obituaries from my mom’s side of the family. Probably because I know much more about that side of my family than my dad’s. However, today I’m going to share my great-grandfather’s obituary. Jack Strelesky was my grandmother’s father. I know next to nothing about this side…
Forgotten History 