A Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper
Rebecca Elizabeth Rassler, 74, beloved wife of Kenneth Rassler of Rembrandt, died Saturday, April 26, 2025, at her home surrounded by family.
Funeral services will take place Tuesday, April 29, at 11 a.m. at St. John Lutheran Church in Storm Lake. Burial will be in Union Cemetery in Pomeroy. Visitation will take place Monday, April 28, from 5-7 p.m. at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake.
Rebecca Elizabeth Gottschalk was born May 7, 1950, in Storm Lake, the daughter of Martin and Mercedes (Griesbach) Gottschalk. As an infant she was baptized at home and later confirmed on April 16, 1964, at Immanual Lutheran Church in Pomeroy.
Rebecca attended school in Pomeroy at Immanual Lutheran Parochial School through eighth grade. She graduated high school in 1968 from Fonda Public School. Following high school graduation, Rebecca furthered her education while attending business school in Spencer.
On April 17, 1971, Rebecca was united in marriage to Kenneth Arno Rassler at Immanual Lutheran Church in Pomeroy.
Growing up on the farm, she enjoyed helping her father in the field and raising her own Black Angus Cattle herd. She also had a great love for animals, especially her cat, Tuffy, and many others over the years. In her spare time, Rebecca loved flowers, gardening, sewing and crocheting.
After buying a home and moving to Rembrandt, Kenneth and Rebecca opened a convenience store to better serve the community. Rebecca so enjoyed meeting and visiting the customers of the store. Many of those customers eventually became a coffee group known as the “M-T cuppers.”
Although Kenneth and Rebecca had no children of their own, they welcomed a foreign exchange student from Germany named, Julia Nissen Nielsen. Julia quickly became a part of their family. They loved visiting Germany frequently to see her and her family.
Kenneth and Rebecca spent many years traveling together. Her favorite destinations were national parks. Together, they spent many winters in Florida and Arizona where they would visit relatives and classmates. Their nephew, Rob Rassler, and his wife Penny, would travel to many of the national parks with them and visit them while in Florida and Arizona. These are cherished memories.
In later years, Rebecca enjoyed camping locally with classmates or better known as “glamping girls.” She will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her.
Those left to cherish her memory include her husband of 54 years, Kenneth Rassler of Rembrandt; foreign exchange daughter Julia Nissen (Leif) Nielsen; nieces: Bernadette “Skeeter” (David) Summers, Lorette “Lori” (Dan) Martin and Katrina (Tom) Goetz; nephew TJ (Lisa) Gottschalk; sister Donna Lei (Lester) Reinert; sister-in-law Jeanne Gottschalk; extended family and many friends.
Rebecca was preceded in death by her parents, Martin and Mercedes; and her brother Richard Gottschalk.
