Edwin Diefenthaler

b. July 1893, d. July 1968
  • Edwin Diefenthaler was born in July 1893 in Wisconsin.
  • He married Jenny (?) in 1918.
  • The following appeared in a local newspaper: Mrs. John Diefenthaler, age 85, died at the home of her son, Edwin, Thursday. She had been making her home there for the past three years. /P/ She was the former Louise Schmidt, born May 23, 1869 in the town of Schleswig, the daughter of Anton and Henrietta Schmidt. She married John Diefenthaler January 30, 1891. They lived in the town of Schleswig their entire life. She was a life-long member of the St. Peter Evangelical and Reformed church and also a member of the American Legion auxiliary. /P/ Survivors are a daughter, Mrs. Meta Gibson of Highwood, Illinois; two sons, Edwin and Oscar of Kiel; one step-brother, Gustave Grabs of Manitowoc; nine grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. /P/ Funeral services were held at St. Peter Evangelical and Reformed church. Burial was in the Rockville cemetery.
  • Edwin Diefenthaler died in July 1968.
  • Jenny (?) became a widow at his death.
  • He was interred at Schleswig Cemetery, Schleswig Township, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
  • Jenny [Diefenthaler] has lived in the same house in Kiel for 74 years. When she and her husband built the house, they were isolated. Jenny has watched the town grow up around her. She was born on October 22, 1896 in Oklahoma's Indian Territory. She married Edwin Diefenthaler in 1918. After World War I, they moved to Kiel. Of their four children, the twins were in World War II where one died in a German prisoner of war camp. A daughter died of cancer and Edwin died in the 1960s. Jenny boasts that she has never smoked, danced, played cards, or driven a car, and that she hardly ever watches TV, but life has still been fun. [From "The Centenarian Spirit in Wisconsin," interviews produced by the Wisconsin Bureau on Aging and Long Term Care Resources.]
  • Last Edited: 16 Mar 2010

Family: Jenny (?) b. 22 October 1896, d. 11 September 2000