{"id":11398,"date":"2021-05-27T13:22:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T18:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/?p=11398"},"modified":"2021-06-02T11:08:33","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T16:08:33","slug":"alice-ruth-koempel-west-union-iowa-may-27-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/2021\/05\/alice-ruth-koempel-west-union-iowa-may-27-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Alice Ruth Koempel, West Union, Iowa, May 27, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, May<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-small_image wp-image-11409 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-250x313.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-250x313.jpg 250w, https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-768x961.jpg 768w, https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-1228x1536.jpg 1228w, https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-1637x2048.jpg 1637w, https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-750x938.jpg 750w, https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-400x500.jpg 400w, https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-1150x1438.jpg 1150w, https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-68x85.jpg 68w, https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Grandma-Alice-original-scaled.jpg 2047w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/> 27, 2021, Alice Koempel, West Union attorney, passed away at the age of 95.<\/p>\n<p>Alice was born on October 21, 1925 in West Union, IA to Edgar and Bessie (Book) Traeger. She graduated law school summa cum laude from the University of Iowa in Iowa City and went into practice with her father in February of 1948. At the time of her death, she was still doing legal work and \u2013 having practiced continuously for 73 years \u2013 was the longest-active attorney in the state of Iowa.<\/p>\n<p>The Iowa Bar Association noted this milestone a couple years ago and requested an interview for their publication to which Alice declined, stating: \u201cIf my clients find out how old I am, they\u2019ll quit coming to me!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alice was preceded in death by her brother, Edgar Jr., father and mother, Edgar Sr., and Bess. She is survived by her brother, Bob Traeger, her two children, Douglas Koempel and Robin Kieckhaefer, Robin\u2019s husband, Jeff, and their daughters, Betsy, Julia and Emma and her longtime legal assistant, Betty Steinlage.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in her career, she loved trial work and passionately advocated on behalf of her clients, however, Alice kept a low profile; and per her wishes, there will be no services.<\/p>\n<p>She generously donated to various charities including the American Cancer Society, JDRF Diabetes Foundation, Alzheimer\u2019s Association, The Humane Society, The ASPCA, and Guiding Eyes to name a few. To honor our mother\u2019s legacy, memorials may be made in her name to the above-mentioned charities or charities of your choosing. All organizations websites can be found at \u201cNonal Charity Reviews,\u201d at give.org.<\/p>\n<p>Burnham-Wood-Grau Funeral Home and Cremation Service of West Union, Iowa is assisting the family with arrangements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, May 27, 2021, Alice Koempel, West Union attorney, passed away at the age of 95. Alice was born on October 21, 1925 in West Union, IA to Edgar and Bessie (Book) Traeger. She graduated law school summa cum laude from the University of Iowa in Iowa City and went into practice with her [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11409,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[911],"class_list":["post-11398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obituaries","tag-koempel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11398"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11411,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11398\/revisions\/11411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}