Julia Mae Birk, Gridley
Gridley native Julia Mae Birk died Tuesday, Feb 6, 2007, at the Life Care Center in Burlington. She was 79.
Mrs. Birk and her husband, Clarence, farmed for many years near Gridley before they moved into town in 1983.
The daughter of John and Freida Knapp Raaf, she was born Jan. 31, 1928, at Gridley, where she grew up and graduated from Gridley High School.
She married Clarence Brooks Birk on March 5, 1946, at Burlington. He died Jan. 24, 1999.
Mrs. Birk was a member of the Gridley United Methodist Church and the United Methodist Women. She was a more than 60-year member of the White Rose Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, a member of the Happy Homemakers, Prairie Promenader Square Dancers and the Errett Grange and was a 4-H leader. She also taught crocheting in the Gridley After School Program.
She is survived by two sons, Edwin L. Birk of Gridley and Arnold Ray Birk of Lansing; one daughter, Sandra Hageman of Olsburg; one brother, Harvey Raaf of Gridley; seven grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday in the Gridley United Methodist Church. Burial will be in Gridley Cemetery at Gridley. The family will meet friends from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.
Memorial contributions to the church may be sent in care of the Jones Funeral Home, P.O. Box 277, Burlington, KS 66839.