Bernice "Bea" Irene Bliss

Bernice Irene “Bea” Bliss, age 85, of Carroll passed away on Saturday, July 10, 2010 at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 P.M. on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Carroll with Pastor Brian Licht officiating. Pianist for the service will be Janet Hoff and soloist will be Pat Beck. Friends may call at the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home in Carroll after 5:00 P.M. on Tuesday where there will be a prayer service held at 7:00 P.M. The casket will be moved to the church at 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday to lie in state until the time of service. Casket bearers will be Eugene Lehrke, Walter Lehrke, Leslie Lehrke, Norm Nieland, Leroy Johnson, and George Towers. Burial will be in the Carroll City Cemetery. Born on May 29, 1925 at New Ulm, Minnesota, she was the daughter of Andrew and Anna (Krueger) Lehrke. She grew up in Gibbon, Minnesota, Moltke Township and attended St. Peter Lutheran School. Following school she worked various jobs before transferring with Benson Optical Company to Ames, Iowa. There she met Irving “Red” Bliss. The couple was married on August 14, 1954 at Memorial Lutheran Church in Ames. Bea was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Carroll. She was active in her church, Republican politics, the Carroll Historical Society, and she was active on various boards and committees. Bea enjoyed flowers, gardening, bird watching, and reading. Surviving are a daughter Ann Schapman and her husband Dave of Carroll; a daughter Jane Bliss of San Francisco, California; two grandchildren Neal of Iowa City and Mara of Ames; a sister Janet Luckwell and her husband Arthur of Lakeland, Minnesota; three brothers: Eugene Lehrke and his wife Addie of Finland, Minnesota, Walter Lehrke and his wife Darlyne of Gibbon, Minnesota, and Leslie Lehrke and his wife Darlene of Bloomington, Minnesota; a sister-in-law Marilyn Bliss of Montgomery, Alabama; and a sister-in-law Helen Bliss of Branson, Missouri. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, a sister Caroline Geischen and her husband Norbert, and brothers-in-law Gordon, and Everett Bliss.