Irene M. Kurz

Irene M. Kurz, 82, of Grand Island died Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014, at Edgewood Vista in Grand Island. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Zion Lutheran Church in Worms. The Rev. Craig K. Niemeier will officiate. Burial will be in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Worms. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the church. Peters Funeral Home of St. Paul is in charge of the arrangements. Miss Kurz was born on the family farm 5 miles south of Palmer, the daughter of Karl and Martha (Kuhnle) Kurz. She is survived by two sisters and one bother-in-law, Lorraine Liebhart and Ruth and Roy Peters, all of Grand Island; one brother and two sisters-in-law, Albert and Evelyn Kurz of Worms and Janice Kurz of Palmer; and numerous nieces and nephews. Irene was baptized and confirmed at Zion Lutheran Church, attended Zion Lutheran parochial school and was a 1949 graduate of St. Paul High School. She then attended Concordia Teachers College in Seward where she received her teaching degree. She taught at country schools in Howard and Hall counties, later teaching at parochial schools in Wisconsin, Kansas, Omaha and Trinity Lutheran School in Grand Island. She later worked at St. Francis Medical Center in Grand Island. After retiring, she worked part-time as a bookkeeper for Bosselman's. In Sept. 2007, she moved to Riverside Lodge. Since August 2008, she has resided at Edgewood Vista. Irene was a member of Zion Lutheran Church, where she was a longtime Sunday School teacher and member of the Altar Guild. She enjoyed music, reading and embroidery and loved her nieces and nephews very much. She was preceded in death by her parents; one sister and two brothers-in-law, Esther and Herman Frauen and Glen Liebhart; brother, Walter Kurz; and three infant brothers, Otto, Karl and Henry Kurz. Memorials are suggested to Zion Lutheran Church Sunday School Fund.