GRATIAS, Ella E. (BEHM)

BEHM, GRATIAS, FITZEL, BLAKE, LEVIS, YUNG, FIALA, PINNEKE, BERGAN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/22/2018 at 10:32:30

Obituary ~ Ella E. (Behm) Gratias
April 30, 1916 ~ March 19, 1997

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
March 21, 1997

MASON CITY -- Ella E. Gratias, 80, of 21 20th St. S.E., died Wednesday (March 19, 1997) at North Iowa Mercy Health Center East.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 302 Fifth St. S.E., with the Rev. Carl A. Ries officiating. Following services, the body will be cremated. Inurnment will take place at a later date at Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. today at Hogan-Bremer Colonial Chapel, 126 Third St. N.E.

Memorials may be made to St. Joseph Catholic Church, or to the Ella E. Gratias Memorial Fund.

Pallbearers for her funeral Mass will be Chad Levis, Kevin Blake, David Yung, Richard Bergan, Larry Bergan and John Behm.

Ella E. Gratias was born April 30, 1916, in Plymouth, daughter of John and Anna (Fitzl) Behm. She married Ralph Gratias Sr. on July 6, 1940, at Holy Family Catholic Church, Mason City. Ella was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Mason City.

Survivors include her husband, Ralph Gratias Sr.; two daughters, Mary Lou Blake and her husband, Leon, and Karen Levis and her husband, Jim, both of Mason City; four grandchildren, Lori Yung and her husband, David, Apple Valley, Minn.; Kevin Blake and Michelle Blake, both of Mason City, and Chad Levis, Minneapolis, Minn.; one great-granddaughter, Abigail Yung, Apple Valley, Minn.; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two sons, Gerald Ralph Gratias and Ralph Gratias Jr.; one brother, Lawrence Behm; and three sisters, Dorothy Fiala, Rosie Pinneke and Lila Bergan.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2018