Mrs. Katie Koch Passes

Funeral services for Mrs. Katie Koch, 63, Woodburn resident for nearly 25 years, who died December 23 at the Good Samaritan hospital in Portland, were held Saturday, De. 27, at St. Luke's Catholic church here with Rev. V. L. Moffenbeier celebrating Requiem high mass and Rev. Maxwell of St. Paul present in the Sanctuary. Music for the mass was sung by Raymond, Ambrose and Al Smith of St. Paul and Bernard Smith of Woodburn, assisted in the choir by Joe Gamroth, Jim Petshow, Charles Smith and Joe Sowa. Mrs. E. S. Donnelly was at the organ and at the end of the mass Bernard Smith sang "Mother Mine." Pallbearers were her six son-in-laws: Aloy Zuber, Frank Kirsch Jr, Richard Gooding, Clement Van de Wiele, Carl Kirsch and Clifford Brittan. Burial was in St. Luke's Catholic cemetery with Rev. Moffenbeier in charge. Recitation of the Rosary was held Wednesday and Friday evenings at Unger's funeral parlor, Mt. Angel.

Mrs. Koch was born January 10, 1884, at Diresville, Iowa. The same year she moved with her parents to a farm near White Lake, S.D., where they homesteaded. On April 8, 1902, she was married to Mike Koch of Robey, S.D. They later moved to Stickney, S. D., where they resided until they came to Oregon in 1923. She was a life-long member of the Catholic church and inspite of her handicaps and long suffering was active in the St. Luke's altar society.

She was preceded in death by one daughter who died in infancy. Survivors include her husband, Mike Koch, and 11 children, Mrs. A. P. Zuber of Woodburn, William C. Koch of Salem, Mrs. F. Kirsch Jr., Mrs. R. A. Gooding, Peter Koch, Mrs. C. Van de Wiele, Mrs. Carl Kirsch, Laurence Koch and George Koch of St. Paul, Mrs. C. Brittan of Vancouver, Wash., and Edward Koch of Woodburn; 29 grandchildren, and the following brothers and sisters, Mrs. Margaret Koch of Woodburn, Mike Ries of Platte, S. D., Mrs. Philip Miller and Peter Ries of White Lake, S. D., Mrs. Marie Ruden and Mrs. John Ruden of Emery, S. D., and Mrs. Annie Ball of Newberg.

The Woodburn Independent Newspaper
Woodburn, Oregon
January 1, 1948, Page 3, Column 3