Alice A. Beeler-Reitz (1919-2017)

REITZ, BEELER, EHL, HINMAN

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 10/12/2017 at 12:24:20

Alice A. Beeler-Reitz, 98, of Bellevue, passed away, Wednesday, August 23rd, 2017 at Mill Valley Care Center, Bellevue.

A Funeral Service will be held at 12:00 p.m. Saturday, August 26 at First Presbyterian Church, in Bellevue. Burial will take place in the Andrew Cemetery. Visitation for Alice will be held from 10:00-11:30 a.m. Saturday prior to the funeral service also at the church. Arrangements are being handled by Hachmann Funeral Home, Bellevue.

Alice Ehl was born March 11, 1919 to Christian E. and (Lydia Hinman) Ehl. Alice was the third child of four children born of this union on a farm one mile east of Andrew, Iowa. Helena Ehl, Harold Ehl, and Alfred Ehl were her three siblings. Alice attended Andrew Schools and graduated at age 16. She then attended Normal Training School to be a teacher at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and taught country school for 3 years.

Alice married Harold E. Beeler June 10, 1942, and they farmed 5 miles west of Bellevue. To this marriage three children were born: Barbara, Wesley and Fredrick. This marriage dissolved in 1965.

Over the years. Alice worked at Clinton Engines in Maquoketa, the Big D Grocery in Bellevue and then the Savannah Army Depot. It was there that she met her second husband, Ralph Reitz. They were married January 10, 1970. Alice and Ralph were involved in the First Presbyterian Church. They enjoyed traveling together and spending time with their children and grandchildren. Ralph passed away June 18, 1989.

Alice was a wonderful cook, baker and seamstress. She sewed for her daughter, making nearly all of her clothing, and did alterations, from altering formal dresses to hemming jeans and slacks for many people in the Bellevue area. Later on she loved sewing for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren as well. Alice sewed for baseball and basketball team players from Bellevue Public School, repairing their uniforms each year.

Alice often baked coffee cakes for the church bake sales and when she entertained guests, often had a coffeecake or two to share over coffee. In later years she taught her grandkids and great grandkids how to make coffeecakes. At one time she baked
her much sought-after oatmeal raisin cookies.

Alice also loved flower gardening and was noted for her wonderful roses, which she often shared with family and friends. Alice also loved feeding the wild birds and always had a nice supply of gold finches at her feeder outside her kitchen window.

Alice was also an avid game player. Some of the games she loved were playing Bogle with her children and grandchildren. There were also many games of Trivial Pursuit played in teams by the family. Alice's specialty was geography. There was a dice game played by the whole family which provided lots of entertainment at many family gatherings too.

Those left to mourn Alice include her daughter, Barbara (Stephen) Waters, of Knoxville, Iowa; son, Wesley (Joyce) Beeler, of Hazel Green, Wisconsin; daughter-in-law, Tari Beeler; five grandchildren, Kelly (Waters) Cain, Kristine (Waters) Alfstad, Traci (Beeler) Schmitt, Andrew Beeler, and Adam Beeler; eight great-grandchildren, Molly, Daniel, Erin, Kate and Colleen Cain, Cassandra Alfstad, and Wesley and Morgan Schmitt; sister-in-law, Doris Ehl; and special friends Maurice and Laurie Anderson and Joann and Jack Fleischman.

Alice was Preceded in death by her parents, Chris and Lydia; her husbands, her sister Helena Ehl, her brothers Harold and Alfred Ehl, and her son Fred Beeler.