Date : 01 Apr 1985
Location : St. Mary's Cemetery, Rock Valley, IA
Marie K. Richter, 83, of Hutchinson, Min. formerly of Rock Valley died Friday in the Community Hospital at Hutchinson.
Services were held at 10:00 a.m. Monday in St. Mary's Catholic Church at Rock Valley. The Rev. William Wingert officiated. Burial was in the parish cemetery. The Rosary was recited at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Porter Funeral Home.
Mrs. Richter, the former Marie K. Klein, was born April 17, 1901 in Rock Valley. She attended Rock Valley Schools and Teachers College in Cherokee. She taught school for several years.
She married William Richter June 14, 1932, in Timber Lake, S.D. They lived in Rock Valley.
Mr. Richter died in 1958. She was a telephone operator for 20 years.
Later she operated Marie's Catering until 1981. She retired and moved to Hutchinson in 1981.
She was a lifetime member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and a 50-year member of the Court of St. Ann's Catholic Daughters of America.
Marie is most remembered in Rock Valley as having a very large elephant collection which numbered about 2660. Marie was known in Rock Valley as the "Elephant Lady".
Survivors include one son, Francis Charles of Sioux Falls, S.D.; one daughter, Mrs. Bernard (Mary Ann) Kerkvliet of Hutchinson, and six grandchildren.
The Rock Valley Bee - Apr 3, 1985
