Birth date: May 26, 1922 Death date: Jan 18, 2017
Ida Mae Hiemke, 94, of Waupaca, WI passed away on Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at Wisconsin Veterans Home at King. Ida Mae was born in Waukesha, WI on May 26, 1922 to the late Edward and Esther Schultz. On December 14, 1941 she mar Read Obituary
To All of the Hiemke Family,
Ida Mae was such a wonderful part of such a wonderful family! As I have spoken to Rita the last few times we thought back to what brought the Martin and Hiemke family together. Family camp at Shadow Lake Retreat is the answer. I, for one, have so many good memories. The pine trees up by the canteen where you could hear the wind whistling through them, numerous games of shuffle board and horse shoes, KP duty, staying in cabins with no bathrooms (that would be less convenient now at my age), various songs - "Get Your Elbows off the Table", "The Old Man By The Window Stood", many meaningful hymns, learning more about the Bible as we sat in God's creation, canoe trips, and, of course, campfires. For my family, we traveled a grand total of three or four city blocks to get to this paradise. Although my wife and I took our own children on many nice vacations that cost more money and were further away, I cannot convince myself that my experience as a kid at Shadow Lake Retreat was not better in more meaningful ways for me. I have been recently reading Exodus. I cannot help but think that Fritz and Ida Mae came to Waupaca almost seeing it as a "promised land". Like the other families that attended Shadow Lake Retreat, they knew it was special and wanted to get even more of it. As I think of Ida Mae personally, I think of someone who was always so supportive of her family and such a wonderful friend to people of all ages. We are taught in scripture that relationships - first our relationship to God, and then our relationships to other people are what life is really all about. Relationships of both kinds blossomed at family camp. Although Ida Mae struck me as a very hard worker, I also felt that she demonstrated at Shadow Lake Retreat, the ability to sit at Jesus' feet sometimes as in the story of Mary and Martha. My gut tells me she might have done that better there than anywhere (as many of us did). In my mind I can see Ida Mae in a chair at Shadow Lake Retreat right now smiling. I was happy to get a few chances in the last year to visit her. Special times with a very special lady!
I have already spoken to Rita this week about this. My intent was to be the Martin family representative at this celebration of Ida Mae's life Saturday. However, it still appears that health issues are not going to allow that to happen as I have been struggling for almost a week with a very bad cold and those fun things that go with it. Should there be a big change in that Saturday morning you can bet you will see me. My wife Teresa, because of my connection to your family, also has gotten to know the Heimke family over the years and, like the rest of the Martin group, has felt very good about that.
Jack and Susan are both sending things through me as we thought I would be coming there to hand them to your family. They both wanted me to give all of you big hugs. However, at the moment a big hug from me may be a bad idea.
Much love to all of you from Teresa, Terry, Jack, Becky, and Susan!!
