Kathryn E. Bixler

Kathryn E. Bixler, 91, passed away early Monday morning surrounded by her family at Altercare of Navarre after a period of declining health.

Kathryn was born on Thursday, January 14, 1926 and was the 5th of 10 children born to the late George T. and Clara I. (Welsch) Rieger and grew up in Louden. She attended Wooster Highway School for 8 years and graduated from Dover High School in 1944.

She worked as a bookkeeper for Wallick Coal and Limestone for 30 years until their closing and then retired from Massillon Stone and Gravel in Navarre, Ohio in 1992. She loved to cook and work in her flower garden.

On November 8, 1948 she married Warren G. "Duke” Bixler of Beach City. Prior to their marriage they built their first home on Route 21 and in 1977 they moved to their new home on Route 250, all located on the Bixler family farm between Strasburg and Beach City. Duke and she traveled to all 50 states.

She was preceded in death by her husband, “Duke,” who died on October 8, 1979, her parents, and sisters, Betty Alpeter and Ruth Sieber, and brother, Robert Rieger.

Kathryn was a member of St. John Evangelical Church in Strasburg.

She is survived by a sister; Joyce Espenschied; two brothers, Don and Ray who live in Dover; another sister, Lydia Murphy who lives near Beach City; along with many nieces and nephews.

Friends are invited to call at the Toland-Herzig Funeral Home & Crematory in Dover on Friday, June 9, 2017 from 4-7pm. A celebration of Kathryn’s life will be held at the funeral home on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at 10am with Pastor Jason Rissler officiating. Interment will take place at Grandview Union Cemetery in Strasburg. Following the service of committal, a meal will be served at the Toland-Herzig Monarch Center in Dover.

Memorial contributions can be made to St. John United Church of Christ, Children’s Department, 516 N. Wooster Ave, Strasburg, Ohio 44680.