George Washington Stratman is buried in Eastside Cemetery, Dodgeville, Iowa Co., WI. Thanks to Find-A-Grave for making this image available.

Mary Maude (Abbey) Stratman is buried in Eastside Cemetery, Dodgeville, Iowa Co., WI. Thanks to Find-A-Grave for making this image available.

La Verne Donald "Vern" Stratman and Bernice Ludell (Swiggum) Stratman are buried in Eastside Cemetery, Dodgeville, Iowa Co., WI. Thanks to Find-A-Grave for making this image available.

Ambrose J. Blotz and Helene (Stratman-Thomas) Blotz are buried in Eastside Cemetery, Dodgeville, Iowa Co., WI. Helene's father and grandfather are also buried there. Thanks to Find-A-Grave for making this image available.

April, 1881

F. W. STRATMAN, Dodgeville; was born in the Village of Cronenberg, Bavarian Rhine District, Kingdom of Bavaria, Prussia, Sept. 13,

1832; came to America in 1854, in order to avoid military service and secure freedom; was in the employ of Evans & Adams, Galena, Ill., six and one-half years, then came to Dodgeville; was for twelve years in partnership with Peter Spang, making the plow business his specialty; in 1872, he bought out the interest of Mr. Spang and associated with Richard Lane, his present partner; this firm is the leading one of the village and county in manufacturing, and the present intention is to add a blast furnace and large engine; a farm-wagon made by this firm was awarded the first prize at the Wisconsin State Fair over 120 competitors. Mr. Stratman married Miss Anna H. R. Tesche, who was born, educated, and married in Cronenberg; they have four children - Gustav E., born April 19, 1860; Anna, Feb. 8, 1862; Frederick W., Aug. 12, 1865, and George Washington, Oct. 3, 1876; the eldest was born in Galena, Ill., and the others in Dodgeville; they have also lost nine children. While clinging to the old Presbyterian faith of their native place, they attend the M. E. Church here. Mr. Stratman served on the first Village Board.

The Wisconsin State Journal, Sunday, January 15, 1956

The Mayfields Report

Mrs. Leslie Mayfield writes from Wilton:

"If you would ask my mother-in-law where she was born and what physicians attended, she would say, 'I was born in  a sod shanty and no doctor was there.' "Mother, Mrs. Cyrus Mayfield, of Dodgeville, related the following story to me: " 'My parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Abbey, and my oldest brother, Irvin, lived in Richland county. Early in 1878, they decided to go west to homestead some land. In their covered wagon, drawn by horses, they had some clothing, bedding, and cooking utensils, including a long-handled skillet, water pail, tin plates and cups, some steel knives and forks, and a coffee pot. " 'Mother and Dad worked their way west to earn food for themselves and their horses and a place to sleep. " 'By fall, they had arrived in Norton county, Kansas. Here they homesteaded 160 acres. There was not time nor material to build a log or lumber building as they had back in Richland county. Dad put up a sod shanty. He put up a framework and used sods about 1 foot square. The one room building was about 16 feet square. " 'I was born in this sod shanty, Mar. 26, 1879. Mother named me Iva Mae. " 'She used to laugh when she told of my first christening. Late in April of 1879 there was a long rainy season and, of course, a sod shanty would let water seep in. Mother heard a fussing near the cradle and found me floundering in a mud puddle on the floor. I had fallen out of bed.' On Mar. 29, 1956, the Lord willing, Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Mayfield will celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary. Their six children are Melva Egalhoff, Dodgeville; Mrs. C. H. Thompson, Ft. Madison, Ia.; Mrs. Art Held, Chicago; Mrs. Herman Crume, 17 N. Brearly st., Madison; Marvin, of International Falls, Minn., and Leslie, of Wilton."

The Marshfield Times, Marshfield, WI, Friday, October 17, 1902

GOV. LA FOLLETTE AT GOLDEN WEDDING.

Dodgeville, Wis., Oct. 11. - Gov. and Mrs. R. M. La Follette attended the golden wedding anniversary reception of Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Stratman, Sr., last evening. Mr. and Mrs, Stratman are among the earliest settlers of Dodgeville. Mr. Stratman has been one of the builders of this city and county. He at present conducts one of the leading wagon and carriage manufacturing plants in Southern Wisconsin and is one of our best citizens, many times holding important offices of trust, now being one of the city aldermen. Mr. Stratman was born in 1832 and Mrs. Stratman was born in 1831 in Cronenberg, Rheinland, Germany, in one of the most thickly-settled parts of the upper valley. They were raised in the same parish, brought up in the same church, confirmed and taken into the church by the same pastor, Rev. W. Hastert. They were married in 1852, and in 1853 they came to America and after a three months' trip landed in Galena, Ill. They resided in Galena about six years when they moved to Dodgeville, just after the election of Lincoln. Mr. Stratman made his native country a visit in 1892, when his aged mother of 92 years was feeble and afterwards died. He is the last survivor of seven children. Mr. Stratman has always been a Republican. They have four children living, G. E., F. W., G. W. Stratman and Emma, now Mrs. W. H. Thomas.

Leigh Larson note: A picture of the Stratmans also appeared with the article.

The Iowa County Democrat, Mineral Point, Iowa Co., WI, Thursday, August 20, 1903

Stratman - Abbey.

Dodgeville Sun: Miss Maud Abbey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Abbey and George Stratman, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Stratman, Sr., were quietly married at the parsonage by Rev. C. Cook, Wednesday evening. Both bride and groom are well known and popular young people. They will reside on Clarence street and will begin housekeeping immediately.

William Searle Abbey Family, 32nd Wedding Anniversary, Dodgeville, Iowa Co., WI, October, 1906.

The WWI Draft Registration Report dated September 12, 1918, shows George Washington Stratman (age 41) is a Wheel Wright for Kruggert Kundert, and is living at 406 N. Jefferson St., Monroe, Green Co., WI. His nearest relative is his wife, Maude Stratman.

George Washington Stratman Death Certificate.

The Iowa County Democrat, Mineral Point, Iowa Co., WI, Thursday, November 28, 1918

DODGEVILLE

Word has been received here that George Stratman had died of Influenza at his home in Edgerton. The remains will be brought here for burial.

William Searle Abbey Family 53rd Wedding Anniversary, Dodgeville, Iowa Co., WI, June 22, 1927.

Maude Stratman, Emma and Almo Larson, Wilbur Larson, and dog, Carlo, Larson farm, Farmington Twp., Waupaca Co., WI, about 1929.

Appleton Post-Crescent, Appleton, Outagamie Co., WI, Tuesday, April 19, 1938

Foreign Service Lions Club Topic

Waupaca Organization Hears Address by Glenn A. Abbey

Waupaca - Glenn A. Abbey, of the United States diplomatic service, was the principal speaker at the Lions club Monday noon at Hotel Delevan. Mr. Abbey was introduced by his brother-in-law, Almo Larson, at whose home he was a week end guest. Mr. Abbey's talk was of "The Foreign Service of the United States." Foe 13 years Mr. Abbey, a native of Dodgeville, Wis. and a graduate of Georgetown university, has been engaged in the American consular and diplomatic service. For two and one-half years he was stationed at Haiti, three years in the high commission in South Africa, located at Johanesburg and Pretoria. He was in Nicaragua a short time following the earthquake and in Venezuela four years. For a little more than a year he was in the service in Paraguay then at Buenes Aires and Paraguay, returning April 6 from Buenes Aires. Mr. Abbey was also a junior delegate to the Chaco peace conference. He is now doing special detail work with the department of state at Washington, D. C., where he will be stationed for two or three years. While in Waupaca Mr. Abbey was a guest at the home of his sister, Mrs. Almo Larson. He left Tuesday morning for Eau Claire where he will be the guest of another sister. Other week end guests of Mr. and Mrs. Larson were Mrs. Ida Abbey, Dodgeville; C. P. Abbey, San Antonio, Texas; Mrs. L. H. Anderson, Eau Claire; Wilbur A. Larson, Watertown; Miss Marion Stratman, Madison; Mrs. Maude Stratman and Harold Indestad, Waupaca. 

Appleton Post-Crescent, Appleton, Outagamie Co., WI, Wednesday, May 15, 1940

Waupaca - Mrs. M. Stratman will leave Thursday for Madison where she will visit her daughter, Miss Marian Stratman, who will leave that city May 20 for San Francisco from which place she will sail for Honolulu. Miss Stratman expects to be gone one year and will be employed as a surgical nurse in Queen Mary's hospital.

The Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Co., WI, Friday, February 27, 1942

Couple Plans Nuptial Rite at Honolulu

There is wide interest in the marriage service to be read Saturday in St. Andrew's cathedral, Honolulu, H. I., where Miss Marion Stratman, Honolulu, daughter of Mrs. Maude Stratman, Waupaca, will exchange vows with Donald Egelus, also of Honolulu. Miss Stratman, who attended the University of Wisconsin, later was graduated from the Madison General hospital school of nursing and then studied further at the Milwaukee county hospital. Later she returned to the Madison General hospital where she was a surgical nurse until May, 1940, when she took a similar position at Queen's hospital, Honolulu. A niece of Glenn A. Abbey, American consul in London, England, Miss Stratman is also a cousin of the well known American research scholar, Dr. Warren Thomas. Her fiancee, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Egelus, Jerome, Idaho, attended the Montana school of mines and is now with the United States engineers in the Hawaiian islands.

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Wisconsin Rapids, Wood Co., WI, Wednesday, July 8, 1942

Proposal to Mine Ore in Cemetery Rejected

Dodgeville, Wis. - Permission to work a vein of zinc and lead ore discovered by prospectors beneath the East side cemetery here was denied the Stratman Brothers' Mining Co. last night by the common council. Vote on a proposal by the company to pay the city a royalty on tonnage taken from a vein if permitted to work it was 5 to 1 for denial. A citizens' committee appeared before the council in opposition to the mining.

George Ervin Stratman and Edna Virginia (Hutchison) Hamilton marriage record.

Abbey Picnic at the Anderson's Lake Cottage on Elk Creek Lake, Town of Spring Brook, Dunn Co., WI, about 1951.

Abbey Picnic at the Anderson's Lake Cottage on Elk Creek Lake, Town of Spring Brook, Dunn Co., WI, about 1951.

Abbey Picnic at the Anderson's Lake Cottage on Elk Creek Lake, Town of Spring Brook, Dunn Co., WI, about 1951.

Emma Jane (Abbey) Larson on her 100th birthday, Riverview Nursing Home, Waupaca, Waupaca Co., WI, February 22, 1984. Clockwise, from left: Julie Larson, Reed Larson, Leigh Larson, Emma (Abbey) Larson, Mary Maude (Abbey) Stratman, and Rob Larson.

Pictures from Emma Jane (Abbey) Larson's 101st birthday. As usual, her son Wilbur was there to help her celebrate. And Emma's 103-year-old sister, Maude (Abbey) Stratman, who also resided there, was always included.        

Mary Maude (Abbey) Stratman Death Certificate.

The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Dane Co., WI, Friday, October 3, 1986

Stratman, Mrs. Maude

DODGEVILLE - Mrs. Maude Stratman, age 104, died on Tuesday, September 30, 1986, in a Waupaca nursing home. The former Maude Abbey was born in Richland County on December 10, 1881. She was married to George Stratman, and was a Dodgeville and Monroe resident for several years. She was a member of the United Methodist Church. She was preceded in death by her husband, George; two sons Dallas and George; a grandson; and a great-grandson. She is survived by a son, Donald, Dodgeville; a daughter, Mrs. Marian Egelus, Las Vegas, Nevada; nine grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren; and 30 great-great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held on at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, October 4, in the LULLOFF-PETERSON FUNERAL HOME, Dodgeville. Reverend Verlyn Harr will officiate. Burial will be in East Side Cemetery. Friends may call on Saturday, October 4, at the funeral home from 10:00 a.m. until time of service.

The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Dane Co., WI, Sunday, February 12, 1989

Stratman, Robert

DODGEVILLE - Robert Stratman, age 55, of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, died on Friday, February 10, 1989, in a Madison hospital after a long illness. Mr. Stratman was born in Dodgeville on September 5, 1933, to George and Mamie (Edam) Stratman. He was married to the former Maxine Theobald. He was a veteran of the Korean Conflict and a member of the Dodgeville United Methodist Church. He is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Ronald (Julie) Meuer and Jodie Stratman, both of Barneveld; his mother, Mrs. Mamie Stratman of Dodgeville; a sister, Mrs. Larry (Betty) Halverson of Dodgeville; and a brother, William (Phyllis) Stratman of Racine. He was preceded in death by his father, George, in 1964, and a brother, Fritz Stratman in 1979. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, February 13, 1898, at the LULLOFF-PETERSON FUNERAL HOME in Dodgeville. The Reverend  Verlyn Harr will officiate. Burial will be in the East Side Cemetery in Dodgeville. Friends may call at the funeral home on Sunday from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., and on Monday from noon until service time.

The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Dane Co., WI, Sunday, January 28, 1990

Stratman, Donald W.

DODGEVILLE - Donald W. Stratman, age 85, of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, died on Wednesday, January 24, 1990, in a Muscatine, Iowa hospital following an apparent heart attack. He was born on March 4, 1904, in Dodgeville to George and Maude (Abbey) Stratman. He married the former Clara Dammen in 1927. The couple resided in Dodgeville where he was co-owner of DH & S Mining Company until moving to San Jose, California in 1958. He was then employed with the San Jose Mercury News until retiring to Dodgeville in 1966. He was preceded in death by his wife, Clara on May 1, 1961; and two brothers, Dallas in 1966 and George in 1964. He is survived by a daughter, Marie (Kenneth) Mlodzik of Santa Barbara, California, and a son, LaVern (Bernice) Stratman of Seneca, South Carolina; six grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; a sister, Marian Egelus of Las Vegas, Nevada; two sisters-in-law, Mrs. Ella Stratman and Mrs. Mamie Stratman both of Dodgeville; and numerous nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be at 1:00 p.m., on Monday, January 29, 1990, in the LULLOFF-PETERSON FUNERAL HOME, Dodgeville. Pastor Verlyn C. Harr will officiate. Burial will be in the Yellowstone Cemetery, Argyle. Visitation will be held on Sunday, January 28, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., at the funeral home.

Sonoma News, Sonoma, Sonoma Co., CA

Obituaries

Helene F. Stratman - Navy League president

12/05/03 - Helene F. Stratman made a peaceful transition from this world at home in Sonoma on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2003, with her loving family close to her side. She was 81, but looked far younger. Helene's passing came just days after a traditional Thanksgiving with her three children and their families, where many special and touching moments were shared. A woman of strength and determination, she will be forever missed as a loving mother, role model, devoted friend and leader. Helene was a 10-year resident of Seven Flags and active in many community groups. She was best known in Sonoma Valley as president and founder of the Vineyard Council of the Navy League. She enjoyed organizing activities such as excursions on-board U.S. Coast Guard vessels, private tours of Air Force bases and visits to the California Maritime Academy. Helene also served as a docent with the Sonoma Valley Historical Society at the Toscano Hotel. She was a member of Women of the Moose, Ladies Auxiliary of Veterans of Foreign Wars, Sons of Italy and other groups. Up until recently, Helene worked at Advanced Instruments Hearing Aid Center on Broadway. Before moving to Sonoma, Helene was a 30-year resident of Marin County where as a single mother, she worked full-time in medical office management and raised her children. Prior to founding the Vineyard Council, Helene served as executive officer of the Carpenter Division of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps in San Rafael and then as commander of the Sea Cadet Pyro Division in Petaluma. In these posts, she organized programs for young people interested in the sea services. Working with young people was a longtime avocation that spanned three decades, beginning with Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in San Francisco and Marin County. Ultimately achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel, Helene was commander of San Francisco CAP Squadron 86 from 1975 to 1981 and was also "Outstanding Information Officer" for the Marin Air-Rescue Composite Squadron 4. Born Aug. 23, 1922, Helene grew up in New York and Europe, traveling with Swiss-American parents who developed new concepts for watches and earned several patents for innovative designs. After settling in New York City, marrying and having children, Helene and her family moved to San Francisco in the early 1960s. Her first husband died in action in World War II, and her second husband was a World War II and Korean War veteran who died in 1974. Helene is survived by daughter Jeanne Slominski and her husband, Ron, and grandson, Jesse "Moses" Slominski of Petaluma; daughter Teri Shore of Sonoma; son, George W. Stratman and his wife, Susan, and granddaughter, Emma, of Ramona; nephew Richard Lawson and his wife, Judith, of Alabama and their children; and cousin Hildegard Maag and husband, Willy, and extended family of Zurich, Switzerland. Arrangements were handled by Duggan's Mission Chapel. A celebration of Helene's life will be held 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Jan. 3, at the Seven Flags Clubhouse in Sonoma. RSVP to Teri Shore, terishore@mindspring.com, or 938-3469. Donations may be made to Valley of the Moon Hospice Team, 735 Broadway, Sonoma, CA 95476; or the U.S. Navy League Sea Cadet Corps, Pyro Division, U.S. Coast Guard Training Center, Petaluma, CA 94952.

Helene Stratman-Thomas was born on May 13, 1896 in Dodgeville, Wis., the daughter of Helena Emma Stratman and Warren H. Thomas, a local grocer and businessman. She grew up amid a blend of folk music in her predominantly Cornish town — German folk songs and English game sounds at home, and Welsh hymns from a nearby church. After high school, Helene taught school in Monticello and Brooklyn before earning a business degree from University of Wisconsin–Madison. She worked at an investment firm in Minneapolis for about eight years, and then returned to Madison to complete her B.A. and M.A. degrees in music. In 1930, she was hired at UW to teach music theory, conduct the women’s chorus, and later work as the business manager for the Pro Arte string quartet. She lived with her brother, Warren K. Stratman-Thomas, a renowned malarial research pharmacologist. Together they were avid genealogists, and she was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1940, her music career found a new trajectory. Professor Leland Coon asked her to head the Wisconsin Folk Music Project, a government-funded effort to record music from the state’s diverse population. That summer she embarked on the first of three major collecting trips. Until then her training was chiefly classical, yet quickly she warmed to the task. After the government-sponsored collecting trips, Stratman-Thomas recounted her travels in a radio series on Wisconsin Public Radio and gave lectures on folk music throughout the state. She also devoted a summer to surveying the state’s Cornish music. In the fall of 1948, Stratman-Thomas married A. J. (Pat) Blotz, a Dodgeville man she had known her entire life. She continued to teach music theory and began writing a book about Wisconsin folk music. Stratman-Thomas retired from UW–Madison in 1961. She died Jan. 11, 1973 at the age of 76. Shortly after Helene’s death, her husband asked Harry Peters to complete the Wisconsin folksong book project. Folk Songs out of Wisconsin was published in 1977. Since then there have been other attempts to bring her work to light, including Judy Rose’s 1983 radio series, Wisconsin Patchwork, and the companion book by Leary. In 2001, the Library of Congress released Folk Music from Wisconsin, a 22-track CD of Helene’s recordings. With a heavy recorder and a thin budget, UW–Madison music professor Helene Stratman-Thomas and recording technician Bob Draves rolled down Wisconsin roads in search of folk music. The year was 1941, a time when many first-generation immigrants and big lumber camp veterans were still alive and performing. The two traveled from town to town — “The average speed was 70 miles an hour,” Bob would later recall — covering thousands of miles to put down records in all regions of the state. Within a few years it would become impossible to capture such voices and experiences. Much of what Helene caught on those precarious shellac discs have never been recorded before or since. The trip marked the beginning of Helene’s six-year folk song collecting effort that would result in the preservation of nearly 800 performances representing more than thirty ethnic and regional groups. The copies of the recordings are housed at the Mills Music Library at University of Wisconsin–Madison and the originals are part of the Library of Congress’s Archive of Folk Culture, the largest collection of American traditional music in the world. The Helene Stratman-Thomas Collection of ethnic music recordings is especially rich in the songs of French-Canadian, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Cornish, and German immigrants. It also contains the music of Native American groups (in particular the Ho Chunk); occupational songs by lumberjacks, sailors, miners, railroadmen, and cranberry pickers; and Appalachian music performed by Kentuckians who settled in northern Wisconsin. At a time when American folk music collecting centered on mainly Anglo- and Afro-American songs, or regionally focused works on Cajuns, Hispanics, and various American Indians, Helene’s work stood apart. She was open to all kinds of musical expression, which enabled her to record everything from Czech and Bohemian brass bands to Norwegian hardanger and Polish goraly fiddlers. Other never-before captured tunes came from psalmodikons and tamburica quartets, Oneida choirs, Welsh Gymanfa Ganu singers, and Swedish, Norwegian, Hollander, and Luxembourger balladeers. Temperamental equipment and unpredictable performers made for extremely precarious conditions. “I’m surprised we got anything good at all because this was so primitive,” Draves told Simply Folk’s Judy Rose in a 1983 interview. When exposed to air, the purple coating around the aluminum recording discs would quickly harden so they had to remain tightly covered until performers were ready. Diamond needles that cut the records had to be sharp, yet any accidental touch against the aluminum and the needle was destroyed. Each disc only afforded 4 ½ minutes of recordings, which meant that singers had little room to dally or make mistakes. But there were forgotten lyrics and other blunders, as well as some awkward moments. A cuckoo clock and church bells were just of few of the stray sounds that made it onto the discs. When it came to lusty ballads, singers might clam up in front of the female song catcher. In turn, Helene would step out of the room and let Bob record those songs that “ain’t exactly fitten for a woman to hear.” A music theory teacher and women’s choir conductor, Helene fell into the work of folksong collecting. Yet her ability to develop instant rapport with almost anyone made her a natural. “She was a very loveable person,” Draves recalled, “a warm person who could become very interested in you.”

The Sonoma Index-Tribune, Sonoma, Sonoma Co., CA, Friday, December 5, 2003

Helene F. Stratman - Navy League president

Helene F. Stratman made a peaceful transition from this world at home in Sonoma on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2003, with her loving family close to her side. She was 81, but looked far younger. Helene's passing came just days after a traditional Thanksgiving with her three children and their families, where many special and touching moments were shared. A woman of strength and determination, she will be forever missed as a loving mother, role model, devoted friend and leader. Helene was a 10-year resident of Seven Flags and active in many community groups. She was best known in Sonoma Valley as president and founder of the Vineyard Council of the Navy League. She enjoyed organizing activities such as excursions on-board U.S. Coast Guard vessels, private tours of Air Force bases and visits to the California Maritime Academy. Helene also served as a docent with the Sonoma Valley Historical Society at the Toscano Hotel. She was a member of Women of the Moose, Ladies Auxiliary of Veterans of Foreign Wars, Sons of Italy and other groups. Up until recently, Helene worked at Advanced Instruments Hearing Aid Center on Broadway. Before moving to Sonoma, Helene was a 30-year resident of Marin County where as a single mother, she worked full-time in medical office management and raised her children. Prior to founding the Vineyard Council, Helene served as executive officer of the Carpenter Division of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps in San Rafael and then as commander of the Sea Cadet Pyro Division in Petaluma. In these posts, she organized programs for young people interested in the sea services. Working with young people was a longtime avocation that spanned three decades, beginning with Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in San Francisco and Marin County. Ultimately achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel, Helene was commander of San Francisco CAP Squadron 86 from 1975 to 1981 and was also "Outstanding Information Officer" for the Marin Air-Rescue Composite Squadron 4. Born Aug. 23, 1922, Helene grew up in New York and Europe, traveling with Swiss-American parents who developed new concepts for watches and earned several patents for innovative designs. After settling in New York City, marrying and having children, Helene and her family moved to San Francisco in the early 1960s. Her first husband died in action in World War II, and her second husband was a World War II and Korean War veteran who died in 1974. Helene is survived by daughter Jeanne Slominski and her husband, Ron, and grandson, Jesse "Moses" Slominski of Petaluma; daughter Teri Shore of Sonoma; son, George W. Stratman and his wife, Susan, and granddaughter, Emma, of Ramona; nephew Richard Lawson and his wife, Judith, of Alabama and their children; and cousin Hildegard Maag and husband, Willy, and extended family of Zurich, Switzerland. Arrangements were handled by Duggan's Mission Chapel. A celebration of Helene's life will be held 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Jan. 3, at the Seven Flags Clubhouse in Sonoma. RSVP to Teri Shore, terishore@mindspring.com, or 938-3469. Donations may be made to Valley of the Moon Hospice Team, 735 Broadway, Sonoma, CA 95476; or the U.S. Navy League Sea Cadet Corps, Pyro Division, U.S. Coast Guard Training Center, Petaluma, CA 94952.

Bernice Ludell (Swiggum) Stratman died June 30, 2013, in Bloomington, McLean Co., IL, at age 79. Buried in Eastside Cemetery, Dodgeville, Iowa Co., WI.

William Blake "Bill" Stratman died Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, at Hospice of the Heartland, Algona, Des Moines Co., IA, at age 83.

La Verne Donald "Vern" Stratman died November 27, 2017, in Normal. Buried in Eastside Cemetery, Dodgeville, Iowa Co., WI.

Marilynn Ella "Grandma Pill" (Stratman) Atkinson, died Wednesday, April 25, 2018, at her home, Moscow, IA, at age 76.