Lucille Belau

LUCILLE BELAU was born to Walter Clinton and Beatrice (Das) Anderson in Fountain Prairie Township, Pipestone County, MN. She was the middle daughter of three girls. She started school in Verdi, MN until Christmas of her sophomore year when her family moved to Sioux Falls, SD. They lived at 33rd and Cliff Ave and she attended Washington High School which was a big change from the little Verdi school. She couldn’t get her locker open and carried all her books around to class. That summer her family moved to Worthington, MN. Two girls from her church youth group asked her to walk around the lake. They became close friends and remained so for life. Lucille played baritone horn in the band and was in the school plays. Her family moved to Pipestone and she lived with friends in Worthington and graduated there in 1948. She joined her family in Pipestone and started working at Luksik Drug Store then as a bookkeeper at Botsford Lumber. She met Chuck Belau at a Rural Youth dance at Harmon Park. They married January 4, 1951 at the Methodist Church in Pipestone.

Following their marriage they lived on a farm in Eden Township west of Ihlen, MN for eleven years. She worked part time for the Pipestone Vet Clinic and the Sale Barn. They moved to a farm four miles west of Jasper on the state line. In 1970 they moved to a farm they bought from Chuck’s Uncle Carl in Elmer Township where she resided until after Chuck’s death in March 2011. During these years Lucille loved being a farmer’s wife. She was active in the Jasper Methodist Church as a Sunday School teacher, Bible School leader and as a Lay Speaker. She belonged to the Neighbor Extension Club, was a leader for the Eden Jolly Juniors 4-H Club and participated in the Young Couples Neighborhood Card Club. She was an avid seamstress who was willing to help or teach anyone with a project. She also enjoyed needlework and made hundreds of baby booties some for the preemie babies at the hospital. She always had several crafty projects in the works. She helped her friend Caroline Krapf with her shop in Jasper. After Chuck passed-away she moved to a condo in Jasper where she had an attached garage for the first time. She then moved to Jasper Sunrise Village where she had often volunteered. She moved to Good Samaritan in Pipestone in 2016 for rehab when she broke her ankle and remained there until her death on January 5, 2020 just one day after what would’ve been her 69th wedding anniversary.

She is lovingly remembered by a daughter, Mary Gehrke of Luverne, MN; her son, Bob (Brigitt) Belau of Mount Vernon, SD; and five grandchildren, Clint (Nikki) Gehrke, Marshall, MN, Cody Gehrke (special friend, Elly Schmitz) Luverne, MN, Nikki (Cory) Giessinger, Watertown, SD, Rachel Belau (special friend, Trevor Dangel), Sioux Falls, SD and Katherine Belau, Mount Vernon; eight great grandchildren, Carter, Madison and Evan Gehrke, William and Luke Gehrke, Treyton and Suttyn Giessinger, Russell Dangel; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; sisters, Ramona Gilmore and Carol Hanson; brothers-in-law, Edward Hanson and Alton Gilmore; and son-in-law, Ross Gehrke.