Mrs. Katurah Speer, 61, widow of Ralph Speer, a former Geneseo and Traer community resident who died more than 23 years ago, suffered a fatal stroke at her home in Evansdale, Iowa, last Sunday morning, and was dead on arrival at Schoitz Memorial hospital in Waterloo where she was taken at 9:30 o'clock. Her funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon in First Reformed church in Evansdale. Geneseo and Buckingham relatives and friends attended the services, and interment was in the Geneseo church cemetery beside her husband.
Mrs. Speer was born Katurah Vera Dancer on February 23, 1907, at Cleveland, North Dakota, the daughter of Gaylord and Louise Lytle Dancer She came to Iowa after her marriage to James Ralph Speer on October 24, 1928, at Warner, North Dakota. Mr. Speer was a veteran of World War I, who was wounded in action during 13 months overseas. After their marriage the couple farmed for a time in North Tama. They also lived for a time a mile northeast of Traer They moved from Tama county to Waverly and later to Waterloo. Her husband was last employed as a driver of a bus by the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern railroad when he was stricken by a fatal coronary attack in January, 1945. Ralph was a brother of Mrs. Evelyn Speer of Dike; Mrs. Gerald (Noreen) Ewing of Buckingham, and of the late Mrs. Carl (Florence) Stouffer, of Geneseo. Mrs. Speer had lived in Evansdale since 1947 and was employed by the Hinson Manufacturing company in Waterloo for 21 years. She was a member of the Evansdale Reformed church and its Ladies' Guild, and was a teacher in the Sunday school.
She leaves five daughters- Mrs. Marlin Raney of Evansdale; Mrs. Stanley Ehlers of Waterloo; Mrs. Curtis Bartlett of Rockford, Illinois; Mrs. Gary Havran, Arlington, Vriginia; and an unmarried daughter, Beverly Speer, at home in Evansdale. Mrs. Speer is also survived by five brothers at Jamestown, North Dakota; Sandstone, Minnesota; Tripoli, Iowa; Modesto, California; and Malta, Montana; and seven sisters in North Dakota, California, Oregon and Washington. In addition to her husband, her parents and several brothers and sisters preceded her in death