Obit: Conrad, Rovella Evelyn (1916 - 1926)

Contact: R. Lipprandt
Email: bob@wiclarkcountyhistory.org  

Surnames: Conrad, Honstad, Ostenson, Odden, Wagner

----Source: The Curtiss Advance (Curtiss, Clark Co., Wisconsin), Wednesday, February 24, 1926

Conrad, Rovella Evelyn (4 Jun 1916 - 20 Feb 1926)

The sudden death of little nine year old Rovella Conrad, daughter of Mrs. Frieda Conrad leaves her relatives and hosts of friends stunned with the seeming impossibility of it all. She had been attending school and was apparently in good health until Saturday morning when she was taken ill with the croup. Her condition wasn’t considered serious until late in the day when the doctor was called. She passed away early in the evening and it is thought that the bad condition of her heart had something to do with suddenness of her death.

Rovella Evelyn Conrad was born June 4th, 1916 at Withee and died Feb 20, 1926 at the home of her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Ostenson at Curtiss. She attended school at Abbotsford until the past year when she entered school at Curtiss.

Her loving and joyous disposition attracted everyone who met her and even numerous friends among children and older people. Her grief stricken family and friends will always have a sweet memory picture of her tossing back her sunny curls and smiling in a winsome was all her own as though she felt the whole world as her friend.

A happy child such as Rovella, knowing little of suffering and slipping peacefully away must have been in the mind of Riley when he wrote these comforting words:

"I cannot say and I will not say that she is dead; she is just away, With a cheery smile and a wave of her hand, she has wandered into an unknown land, And left us dreaming how very fair, I needs must be, since she lingers there."

She leaves to mourn her loss, her mother, Mrs. Frieda Conrad of Curtiss, and two sisters, Mrs. Wm. S. Wagner, of Thorp and Edna of Eau Claire.

The funeral was held Tuesday afternoon from the Norwegian Lutheran Church, Rev. Odden officiating and she was laid to rest beside her father and little sister, Viola, who preceded her in death seven years ago. The many and beautiful floral offerings spoke the love hat everyone felt for Rovella and were an inestimable comfort for the bereaved ones.

Out of town people who attended the funeral were her sisters Mrs. Wm. Wagner of Thorp and Edna of Eau Claire, her aunt Mrs. Louis Honstad of Withee and a host of friends from Abbotsford and the surrounding community.

Note: Birth and death information were verified via the ALHN - Clark County, St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery Index, Township of Hoard, Clark County.