Josephine Friemel

A Vigil of Evening Prayer will be 7PM, Tuesday at Brooks Funeral Chapel in Canyon. The Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00AM, Wednesday, Dec.1, 2010 at St. Ann"s Catholic Church, Canyon, Texas, Rev. Phu Phan celebrant. Burial will follow at Dreamland Cemetery. Josephine was born January 7, 1914 in Cedar Rapids, Nebraska to Louis and Mary Wieck. As a young child, she and her family moved to the Texas Panhandle and settled on a farm near Umbarger, where she attended the local school. She married Herbert (Harry) Friemel in 1931, making their home near Dawn. Together they began a family and a lifelong farming and ranching operation in the Panhandle, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. Mrs. Friemel (Josie) was a talented artist and enjoyed traveling the world. Josie had many hobbies including her painting, flower and vegetable gardening, cooking, sewing, quilting and needlework. Josie enjoyed telling the story of her first time at age 6 seeing electric lights. During the last Christmas season before the family"s move to Texas, she and her mother went by train to visit her grandparents. They were met by an uncle in a horse-drawn sleigh and while riding through the snow covered streets of Howells, Nebraska, she was dazzled by the illuminated wonders of storefronts with shining Christmas lights, sparkling ornaments, candy and toys beyond a child"s imagining. She and her siblings were excited to be moving from "cold and snowy" Nebraska to "warm" Texas only to step off the train in Umbarger and into 12" of Panhandle snow! She is preceded in death by her husband, Herbert; a son, Roman; sisters, Clara and Elizabeth; her brothers, Joe, John and Louis; and grandchildren, D"Anne, Gary, and Karl, and great-granddaughter, Madison. The family expresses their deep gratitude to the staff and the caregivers of Childer"s Place and BSA Hospice. Family remembering her are daughters, Joyce Gerber and Beverly Ward; sons, Jerome, Frank and Galen Friemel and her brother, Ed Wieck. There are many grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and friends to cherish her memory. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Sisters of St. Benedict Monastery, Canyon; Olivia"s Angels of BSA Hospice, the Panhandle Food Bank or a favorite charity.