Garnet Voigt

A Memorial Service for 82-year old Garnet A (Gar) Voigt of Graettinger will be Saturday, Jan. 2, at 10:30 a.m. at the United Methodist Church in Graettinger with Pastor Rick Johnson officiating. Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 1, at the United Methodist Church in Graettinger. Mrs. Voigt died Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015 at the Ruthven Community Care Center in Ruthven, IA after a brief but courageous battle with cancer.

Garnet Anna Reekers was born January 22, 1933 near Hospers, Iowa, the daughter of Gerrit and Jeanette (Vandeberg) Reekers. The family moved to the Sheldon area where Garnet received her education in the Sheldon Community School, where she graduated in 1950. She attended Sheldon Junior College and Ellsworth College in Iowa Falls before moving to Graettinger to start her career as an elementary teacher. While in Graettinger, she met Jim Voigt and the couple was married in Sheldon, IA, on Dec. 29, 1956. The couple then made their home on the farm near Graettinger.

Garnet taught in the elementary school in Graettinger full time until the birth of the couples first child, Dan, in 1958. She returned to teaching in the early 1960s until their second child, Diann, was born in 1964. After that, Garnet served as a regular substitute teacher in the Graettinger Community School until the late 2000s.

Garnet also served as the organist at the Graettinger United Methodist Church for over 50 years, and also played piano for countless events at churches in the community, as well as school events and special occasions. She also taught piano and organ lessons to youth over the years.

Garnet enjoyed collecting copper pieces, decorative pigs and had a “green thumb”, as evidenced by her love of plants and flowers, which she enjoyed raising inside and outside her home. In 2006, Garnet and Jim moved into Graettinger where she continued raising plants and sharing her gift of music with her church.

Garnet was a member of the Graettinger United Methodist Church and United Methodist Women.

Left to cherish the memory of a beloved wife, mother, sister-in-law and aunt are her children Dan of Graettinger and Diann and her husband John Burright of Ames, as well as her brother-in-law, William Jr., (Bill) and his wife Ina Mae, of Graettinger, along with numerous nieces and nephews and countless friends and acquaintances.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband of 58 years, Jim, as well as several brothers and sisters-in law; aunts and uncles and cousins.

Arrangements by Tim Kulow of The Historic Bruce Funeral Home Fort Dodge.