Service: 10 a.m. Friday, Nov 13, St. Mathias Church, 215 W. Eighth St. Visitation: 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, Ralph J. Wittich-Riley-Freers Funeral Home, rosary prayer service, 7 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial: Greenwood Cemetery. Online condolences:

MUSCATINE, Iowa – Dorothy W. Nietzel, 89, of Muscatine, died Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009, at the Lutheran Homes.

The Rev. Jason Crossen of the Ss. Mary and Mathias Parish will officiate. 

Casketbearers will be her grandsons, Matthew Morrow, Joshua Hetzler, Nicholas Hetzler, Benjamin Nietzel, Joseph Nietzel, Daniel Nietzel, and Anthony Nietzel. 

A funeral luncheon will be held at Gannon Hall following the committal service.

Memorials may be made to the family in care of Nicklas Nietzel.

Mrs. Nietzel was born Aug. 17, 1920, in Muscatine, the daughter of William F. and Wilhemina “Minnie” C. Henning Freese.  She married William Harvey Nietzel on May 28, 1944, at the Mulford Evangelical Free Church in Muscatine, Iowa.  He preceded her in death Dec. 10, 1987. 

She was a graduate of Muscatine High School, class of 1938.  She graduated from the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in 1941.

She worked for Muscatine General Hospital, Hershey Manor and retired from The Lutheran Homes in 1992 as in-service Director at the age of 72.

She was a member of the National Rehab Nurses Association, Catholic Daughters of the Americas – Joan of Arc Court 524, and she also belonged to the Lady Elks.

She enjoyed reading, baking, knitting and playing bridge.  She was an avid Yankees fan.

Those left to honor her memory include a son, Nicklas W. Nietzel and wife, Lori, of Muscatine; two daughters, Sally Morrow and husband, Ron, of Bettendorf, and Doreen Hetzler and husband, Darrell, of Beardstown, Ill.; 12 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, two sons, Thomas and Donald Nietzel; one daughter, Carol Nietzel; two brothers, Herb and Ralph Freese; and two sisters, Lillian Hoeksema and Leola Dittman.