Wasco Memorial Park-111-H

Obituary

Obituary for Susie Wohlgemuth

Susie was born on February 21, 1916, in British Columbia, Canada, the second daughter of Henry Martin Dueck and Justina Siemens Dueck. When Susie was 4, her dad decided he had had enough of the cold Canada weather - California was better suited to the kind of farming he was used to in Ukraine. The family boarded a train and moved to Shafter, where they did farm labor until they were able to purchase their own 40-acre farm in the early 1920s. She learned English at a class taught by her pastor… at the Shafter Mennonite Brethren Church, and then was able to enter Maple School, graduate from there, and finish her schooling at Wasco High School, graduating in 1935. She immediately got a job, and continued her working career until her retirement at the age of 92 as bookkeeper at Voth Farms, where she had presided over the office for 50 years. Susie was a career woman and working mother long before the concept became popular, but her work ethic and self discipline helped her balance her life. Susie attended the Shafter MB church as a child and young adult, committing her life to Jesus and being baptized there. Later she joined the Wasco Nazarene Church, serving as its treasurer. After both she and her best friend Jean Mitchell had established themselves in careers and single life, they met two brothers from Kansas at church, and corresponding relationships soon blossomed into a double wedding. Susie married Arthur Wohlgemuth, and Jean married his brother Harry, in 1950. Art and Harry bought lots and built houses for their families on the same block of Rosewood Avenue in the early 1950s. In 1954, Susie and Art were blessed by the birth of their son Dennis. The family loved to travel, especially to Pismo and Morro Bay. Susie lost Dennis in a drowning accident in 1972, when he was just 18. Later, when Art became bedridden in the 1990s, she became his caretaker, only hiring help for the hours she was at the office. But Susie was left alone when Art succumbed to his illness in 1996. After this she poured herself into her home and garden, her work, and her church work. She also became a member of a noontime lunch bunch that met at various Wasco restaurants regularly on workdays, and kept tabs on each other in between. These became some of her new best friends.
After retirement, Susies health remained good, but two accidental falls sapped her strength and she moved to Carrington in Shafter for several years, followed by Lerwick Home Care in Bakersfield for the past 3 years. Lerwick staff, Fe, Frank, Myrna and Tita, and her housemates, were her family during these last few years, giving her love and support far above what a facility is expected to provide. We thank them for their unselfish service!
Susie passed away quietly in her sleep on January 31, 2017, just weeks shy of her 101st birthday, so she will be celebrating in heaven with her Lord, her parents, her sisters Tina Neufeld, Esther Dueck, and Ella Bergman, her husband Art and son Dennis, her friends Jean and Harry Wohlgemuth, and many other friends and relatives. She is survived by Sandy Armstrong and Randy Bergman and other members of Ellas family, Esther Eidsen and Mary Gardner and other members of Tinas family, Dale Wohlgemuth and his family, and other relatives and friends.
A memorial service will be held for Susie Wohlgemuth, age 100, on Sunday, February 19, at 3 pm in the chapel at Peters Funeral Home in Wasco.