Agnes Lynch

Agnes A. Lynch, 95, of West Union, IA, formerly of Waucoma, IA, passed away on Saturday, October 10, 2015 at the Good Samaritan Society in West Union.

Mass of Christian Burial was held at 10:30 am on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Waucoma, IA with Rev. Nick March officiating. A visitation was held one hour prior to the service at the church.

A public visitation was held from 4 pm until 7 pm on Monday, October 12, 2015 with rosary at 3:50 pm and scripture service at 7 pm at S.K. Rogers and Burnham-Wood Funeral Home in West Union.

Agnes (Kurash) Lynch was born on a spring day, April 17, 1920, on a farm two miles west of Waucoma, in northwest Fayette County, Iowa. 

Her parents were the children of Czechoslovakian immigrants.   Agnes’s Father, Albert Kurash, was a quiet, hard working farmer.  He lovingly called his daughter “Aneshka”, which was her name in the Czech language.   Her Mother, Alice (Barloon) Kurash, was a typical hard working farm lady that produced five children and the best bakery in the world.

Agnes went to St. Mary’s Catholic grade school in Waucoma for eight years and was an excellent student getting mostly A’s.  After grade school, she turned down going to high school in order to help her Father with the farm, where she took great pride in working as hard as any man.

On September 16, 1941, Agnes married a handsome Irishman, Martin Lynch.  Martin grew up on a farm west of Waucoma and was a 4th generation descendent of Irish immigrants. 

Agnes and Martin spent the next 9 years farming and starting a family of their own.  In 1950, they moved to Waucoma to pursue other methods of making a living. 

Over the years they had 5 children. After having 4 boys, Martin and Agnes were elated to finally have a beautiful little girl.  All four sons enlisted in the US Air Force with two of them spending a year in Vietnam.  Jim and wife Marty live in Mesquite, Nevada. Ray is deceased while his wife Jean lives in West Des Moines, Iowa. Don and wife Mary live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. David and Laura live in Waucoma, Iowa. Daughter Ann Bodensteiner and Alan live on a Farm near Hawkeye.  Agnes has 10 grand children, 12 great-grand children, and three great-great-grandchildren.

While raising 5 children, Agnes had a large garden where she produced much of the family’s food for the year.  She canned fruit, vegetables, chickens, and anything that she could fit into a jar.  She also inherited her Mother’s ability to produce the best bakery in the world.  Many times, her children would come home from school and grab a handful from the loaf of freshly baked bread, when she wasn’t looking. 

Agnes also supplemented her family’s income by weaving rag rugs on a loom in the house and selling them.  She also fixed, styled and permed many of the local ladies hair around town.  It made her feel good to help them look good.  During these busy years she also gave all the haircuts to her boys and husband. Agnes left much more on this earth than she took from it.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, one brother Louis Kurash, three sisters, Cecelia Manderfield, Helen Tomasek, Loraine Schmitz, and her son, Raymond Lynch.

S.K. Rogers and Burnham-Wood Funeral Home of West Union was in charge of the arrangements.   41u41