Josephine “Josie” Onsager

Monday, June 18, 2018 6:47 pm

Josephine “Josie” Onsager, 91, of Waukon, died Friday, June 15, 2018, at Good Samaritan Center in Waukon. Funeral services are at 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 20, at Old West Paint Creek Lutheran Church in rural Waukon, with Pastor Ken Kimball officiating. Honorary casket bearers are Josephine’s granddaughters. Casket bearers are Nathan and Nick Onsager, Mitchell Rude, Kevin, Joseph, and James Ward. Online condolences may be left at martinfunerals.com. Burial is in the church cemetery. Friends may call one hour before services Wednesday at the church. Martin Funeral Home in Waukon is handling arrangements. Memorials may be made to Old West Paint Creek Lutheran Church or to the Good Samaritan Center for dining room remolding project.

Josephine Ruth Onsager was born Dec. 14, 1926, in Waukon, the daughter of Peter and Minnie (Steffenson) Olson. She was baptized and confirmed at Old West Paint Creek Lutheran Church in rural Waukon and attended school in Waukon. She married Arnold Irving Onsager April 7, 1946, at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Waukon. Josie was a housewife and did daycare for many years for local families.

She was a past member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Waukon and a member at Old West Paint Creek Lutheran Church, where she was very active in ladies’ groups when she was younger. Josie enjoyed sewing, quilting and going for rides with her husband, Arnold; and she loved babies.

Survivors include her children: Elaine (Robert) Ward Decorah, Sharon (Tom) Miller of Winfield, Ronald (Tamie) Onsager of Decorah,and Arnie (Sherri) Onsager of Waukon; 10 grandchildren: Joseph (Catina) Ward, James Ward, Jennifer (Brandon) Rude, Lindsay (Kent) Thoreson, Elizabeth (Jake) Thompson, Nathan (Stacie) Onsager, Tina Onsager, Nick Onsager, Jasmine (Eric) Christensen, and Michelle Campbell; 14 great-grandchildren; four sisters: Norma May of Corvallis, Ore., Lillian Jahnke of Postville, Ella Mae (Allen) Goeke of Waukon and Millie Burt of Willard, Mo.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Arnold ,who died in 2011; a daughter, Gloria Parker; two sisters, Sylva Olson in infancy and Mavis Nelson; and two brothers, Arnold and Joseph Olson.