Margaret A. Bredekamp (1934-2018)

BREDEKAMP, WILDFANG, HENSEL

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 8/21/2018 at 10:44:02

Margaret Alwine (Wildfang) Bredekamp, age 84 of rural Spragueville, Iowa, left this life on Friday, August 17, 2018 at Big Meadows Nursing Home, Savanna, Illinois. A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, August 24, 2018 at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Preston. Burial will take place in Spragueville Cemetery. A visitation will be held from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m., Thursday, August 23, 2018 at Law-Jones Funeral Home, Preston, Iowa.

Margaret was born on February 23, 1934, the daughter of Adolf and Else (Hensel) Wildfang in Clinton, Iowa. She attended Clinton High School and graduated with the Class of 1952. Upon graduation she worked as a Northwestern Bell Telephone long distance operator. Margaret married Emil H. Bredekamp on March 14th, 1953 at the Zion Lutheran church in Clinton, Iowa. Emil passed away on July 28, 2009 at Mercy Hospital in Dubuque, Iowa.

After Margaret and Emil were married, they farmed on Iron Bridge Road, Spragueville for 56+ years. They farmed corn, oats, and soybeans, and kept cattle, hogs, chickens, and milked. Margaret and Emil raised four children with them on the family farm. Richard Emil, Brian Paul, Caroline Margaret Ann, and Kenneth Henry. Margaret loved watching all their children, and their children’s children grow up; she always treasured their gradations, weddings, anniversaries and new little ones arriving. She was proud to be a first generation American and of her German Heritage, which she made sure her family remembered.

Margaret loved visiting with friends and really enjoyed talking on the telephone. She was known for writing letters and sending cards- her Christmas letter was affectionately known as “The Epistle of Margaret.” Muriel was her special pen pal from England and they wrote to each other for over 60 years. She was always willing to help others and would care for relatives and friends in her own home and was a certified CNA. Margaret was always the first one to arrive and the last one to leave any event. She was a member of the Salem Lutheran Church in Spragueville, where she served with the Woman of the ELCA and as a Sunday School and Vacation Bible teacher. Margaret was a charter member of the church Young Couples Club and enjoyed their Christian fellowship and activities and she worked with the Town and Country Alliance Ministry (TCAM). Margaret also enjoyed dancing with her husband, Emil at the Preston Town and Country Square Dance Club events, dances at the Spragueville Community Center and beyond.

Margaret loved her community and was a past recipient of the Governor’s Volunteer Award and the Governor’s Community Betterment Award. Over the years, Margaret served as a 4-H Leader, and was on the Music and Athletic Boosters for the Preston School District. She was a member of the Jackson County Historical Society for 12 years, where she served as a past Board Member. She was particularly proud that her father, Adolph, led the design and construction of the Clinton Engines Site in Maquoketa, which was at that time part of the Maquoketa Company. Margaret was also a member of the Preston Red Hat Honey’s, the Preston Lion’s Club, and the Preston Town and Country Twirlers. She especially enjoyed her time spent with her neighborhood friends from the North Bend Community Center located over the hill from her home. She also tended to the Spragueville cemetery for many years.

Margaret will be dearly missed by her four children, Richard Bredekamp of Spragueville, Brian (Debbie) Bredekamp of Preston, Caroline Bredekamp of Spragueville and Kenneth Bredekamp of Preston seven grandchildren; seventeen great grandchildren; one great-great grandchild; and one sister in-law, Mary Anne Wildfang of Grand Blanc, Michigan. Margaret was preceded in death by her parents, Adolph and Else; her husband, Emil; and one brother, Adolph Wildfang.

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