Jo Klotz (Josie Bell Klotz)

Jo Klotz (Josie Bell Klotz), 100, died May 11, 2017, at the Lone Tree Retirement Center in Meade, KS.

She was born August 11, 1916, in Cartersville, OK, to John and Martha Byrd. Jo had five brothers and one sister and three half-brothers and two half-sisters. Her mother died when she was six and at the age of eight, she and her younger sister, Bessie (Kruckenberg) went to live with her brother Lorrie in Isabel, KS. At the age of 14, she went to Montezuma, KS, to help the John and Jennie Blackwelder (uncle and aunt) family with harvest. The following year she returned to again help with harvest and stayed there for the remaining years of high school graduating as Valedictorian of her 1936 class. She then attended Emporia Teachers College to earn a teaching degree and taught at a one-room country school SW of Dodge City, KS.

On May 18, 1941, she married Leo Klotz and they had one son, David. She was a homemaker until Leo’s death in 1968 and then she worked at the Rexall Drug store and later at the Gates Drug store in Meade. Survivors include her son, daughter-in-law Nancy, granddaughters Allison and Lori, and great grand-children Lily and Ryan.

She was a member of the St. John Lutheran Church, the LWML and the VFW Auxiliary. She

was interested in and cared about people and had a great memory for their names and stories.

The funeral will be Thursday, 18^th, at St. John Lutheran Church in Meade at 2:00 pm followed by internment at the Graceland Cemetery. Visitation will be from 8:30 am to 12:00 at the Fidler-Orme-Bachman Mortuary.

Thanks to her many friends and relatives for their kindness and a special thanks for the many years of caring support given by her niece, Clauda Tacha, and the staff of the Lone Tree Retirement Center.

Memorials may be given to the BEAM Center, St. John Lutheran Church or the Lone Tree Retirement Center.