This is the tombstone of Edna E. (Grauberger) Clase, located in row 6 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:
Edna E. Clase
Oct. 18 1913
Sep. 11, 1988
Edna Elizabeth Grauberger was born in Blackcreek Township, Mercer County, Ohio, on 18 October 1913, the third daughter of M. Henry and Emma (Baker) Grauberger.
Edma was baptized at Zion Chatt by Rev. Reitz on 17 December 1913. Her aunt Elizabeth (Grauberger) Strabel was her baptismal sponsor. Edna was confirmed at Zion Chatt by Rev. J.E. Albrecht on Palm Sunday, 10 April 1927.
Edna Grauberger married Robert L. Clase on 13 March 1936 in Huntington, Indiana. Robert was a trucker who lived in Decatur, Indiana. Robert was born 22 July 1912 in Pierceton, Indiana, the son of Samuel Harrison and Elizabeth “Lizzie” (Deitsch) Clase. His father Samuel Clase lived in Willshire in 1936 and his mother Lizzie (Deitsch) was from Chatt, the daughter of Jacob and Gertrude (Miller) Deitsch. [1]
In 1940 Robert, Edna, and their one-year old son Robert Allen lived in a rented home in Chatt. No occupation was given for Robert. Some of their neighbors included Lewis Wendel, Fred Wick, Christian Bollenbacher, Ivan Johnson, and Luther and John Fisher. [2]
By 1945 Robert and Edna had moved to Hamilton, Ohio, where Robert worked as a bartender and Edna as the restaurant manager at Garnett Hoskins. [3] They remained in Hamilton for at least another two years and lived at 518 Long Street in 1947, when Robert was employed as a trucker and Edna was a compiler at Las-Stick Manufacturing Company. [4]
Not long after that Robert and Edna divorced and Edna and her young son Robert Allen moved back to Chatt, where they lived in a brick duplex home across from the Chatt Bar, just north of Wendel’s Garage. Edna worked two jobs to support them– sanding wood at the Mersman Table Factory in Celina and tending bar at the Chatt Bar. Her family remembers her as a woman of incredible strength–a single, working mother, at a time and place where neither was common.
Later in her life Edna moved to New Carlisle, Indiana, where she died from complications of a duodenal ulcer on 11 September 1988. She died at the Hamilton Grove nursing home and was 74 years old. On her death certificate her occupation was given as an inspector at a furniture company. Her son, Robert Allen, of Edwardsburg, Michigan, was the informant for the information on her death certificate. Edna was buried on 14 September. [5]
Robert L and Edna (Grauberger) Clase had one son:
Robert Allen (1938-2008), married Nancy Elson
[1] “Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 17 June 2016), Robert L Clase and Edna E Grauberger, 13 Mar 1936; from Huntington, Indiana, Marriages, Vol. 30, 1935-37, p. 49; from FHL microfilm 2295254.
[2] 1940 U.S. Census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, ED 54-22, p.14A, line 16, Robert Clase; digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jun 2016); from NARA microfilm T627, roll 3114.
[3] Hamilton, Ohio, City Directory, 1945, p.137; database on-line, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jun 2016); from U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.
[4] Hamilton, Ohio, City Directory, 1947, p.148; database on-line, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jun 2016); from U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.
[5] Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011, database on-line, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jun 2016); from Indiana State Board of Health Death Certificates, Indiana Archives and Records Administration, Indianapolis.