Vera L. Kuehne, 92, Burtrum, MN

Vera L. Kuehne, 92 year old resident of Burtrum, MN passed away Sunday, June 3, 2012 at her son’s home in Gill, CO. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Saturday, June 9, 2012 at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Grey Eagle, MN with Rev. Ronald Tibetts officiating. Burial will take place in Moses Dane Cemetery in Burtrum, MN. Friends may call from 4-7 P.M. on Friday and from 10-11 A.M. on Saturday at the Church in Grey Eagle, MN.

Vera Lavonne (Raatz) Kuehne was born November 17, 1919 in Westgate, Iowa to Frank and Stella (Shafer) Raatz. Her father had a butcher shop in Westgate, while her mother managed the Raatz Restaurant. She enjoyed living near her Shafer and Raatz relatives and was especially close to her grandfather, Henry Shafer. She started school in Westgate, IA but her family moved to Minnesota when she was age 9. They first lived on the Bundy farm where she attended school at District #94. The family then moved to a farm just north of Burtrum where she attended school and graduated from Burtrum High School.
Vera met her future husband, Edmund F. Kuehne when he went to work for her father in 1938 and on August 6, 1939 they were married at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Long Prairie Township. They first lived near Little Falls where Ed worked on the highway, then they moved to the August Dehn farm where they co-farmed with his brother Hugo. In 1941 they bought their own farm about halfway between Burtrum and Swanville.
Because of her health, they moved for the winter to San Bernardino, California in 1949. They followed with one more winter trip to California before they moved there permanently in 1954.
In 1966 they returned to Minnesota, again taking up farming. She loved taking care of the calves and called them her babies. After retirement they lived for several years on the south edge of Burtrum, where Vera remained after Ed died in 1991. Vera enjoyed gardening and most anyone who visited could go home with something fresh from her garden. She is also well known for remembering the birthdays of her family, nieces and nephews. In the fall of 2011 Vera moved with her youngest son to Colorado after living in the Senior apartments in Grey Eagle for a year. Here she remained until her death on June 3, 2012.
She leaves her children: Judy (George) Smith of Aurora, CO; Douglas (Doris) Kuehne of Avon, MN, Richard (Christine) Kuehne of Gill, CO and Barbara (Steven) Anderson of Shafer, MN to grieve her loss, as well as numerous grand and great grandchildren, nieces and nephews, friends and neighbors.
Funeral arrangements are with the Shelley-Gibson Funeral Chapel in Swanville, MN.