Julia Koenigs passed from this life to her eternal glory on April 3, 2013, at the Stacyville Community Nursing Home.

Julia Martha May was born Nov. 2, 1907, in Meyer, Iowa, the eldest of eight children of John P. and Margaret (Hackenmiller) May. She was baptized at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Meyer and attended Sacred Heart School through grade eight. From age 12, she helped raise her seven brothers on the family farm. She appreciated growing up in a musical family and learned to play the piano as a child, even playing in her father’s band. A special memory was a surprise party for her 21st birthday, when she got a watch from her dad. During her 20s, she worked at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester and in 1933 went to Chicago for work as a nanny.

On June 25, 1940, she married Joseph C. Koenigs at Sacred Heart Church in Meyer. They farmed between Meyer and Adams and raised a family of six children. Julia loved gardening, especially her tomatoes, strawberries and raspberries. She actively participated in Sacred Heart Parish. Joe and Julia were good friends and neighbors in the Meyer community and loved to play cards (especially euchre) and go to the many wedding dances at the Adams Legion and the Terp Ballroom in Austin. They retired in Adams in 1980 and became members of Sacred Heart parish there. Joe died in 1998. Julia continued to live independently in her home until age 102. She considered her friend JoAnn Heimer her guardian angel for helping her be able to stay living so long in her own home.

In 2010 she moved to the Stacyville Community Nursing Home, where she appreciated the residents and staff, weekly Mass, social activities and the many visits with her family and friends from Meyer, Adams and Stacyville. She also loved to read, and as her eyesight failed in recent years, she said that was the hardest thing to give up. Julia credited her long life to faith, prayer and the love of family, her nieces and nephews, and her many friends. Her greatest devotion was to the Blessed Mother, and she prayed five rosaries each day. Her prayer books were always at her side.

Through the years, her favorite times were those she spent with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her brothers and their families, Joe’s family, and neighbors and friends, especially at Christmastime. Always there were boisterous card games, and even this past Christmas she played euchre with the grandchildren.

Julia is survived by two daughters, Margaret Ann (Bruce) Eggenberger and Dorothy Koenigs, both of Rochester, Minn.; two sons, Herman Koenigs, Adams, Minn., and Peter Koenigs, Meyer, Iowa; sons-in-law, Carl Holmgren (Sheryl), Balsam Lake, Wis., and Roger Tripp, Coon Rapids, Minn.; nine grandchildren; two step-grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren. She delighted in sharing in all of their lives, and was especially thrilled with three new great-granddaughters born in the month before her death. Also surviving is her sister-in-law, Eileen May, Colorado Springs, Colo.; special friend JoAnn Heimer; and many relatives and friends in places near and far. She will be dearly missed by all.

She was preceded in death by her husband Joe, daughters Trudy Holmgren and Norma Tripp, her parents, and seven brothers Bill, Ernie, Joe, Ray, Father Al May, Albert and Roman.

A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 11 a.m. at Sacred Heart Oratory, Meyer, Iowa on Monday, April 8 with the Rev. Monsignor John Hemann and Father Thomas Loomis officiating. Interment will be in the Sacred Heart Cemetery, Meyer, Iowa. Visitation will be held at the Adams Funeral Home, Adams, Minn., on Sunday, April 7, from 4-8 p.m., with a rosary at 4:30 p.m. and prayer service at 7:30 p.m. Visitation will also be at the church for one hour before the service on Monday morning.