Fred 'Fritz' Ernst Kleesick

Fred ?Fritz? Ernst Kleesick, 97, died Saturday (Dec. 22, 2001) at Hillcrest Nursing Home in McCook. He and his twin brother were born March 26, 1904, in Otoe County near Plattsmouth. The family moved to Bartley in 1905. He was baptized in the Lutheran Church but as a young man attended the Bartley Christian Church. He attended school in the old wooden structure that stood in the north part of Bartley. When he was 12 or 13, he helped dig the basement of the Bartley Christian Church with is first team of horses. He helped build the old brick bank where the post office now stands. He also helped maintain the old highway to the Furnas County line with his team and harrow. On Sept. 2, 1927, he married Lucille Gammill at Oberlin. They made their home on a farm northwest of Bartley. Later they farmed south of Bartley, and moved into Bartley in 1945. He continued farming on the Art Moore farm until his retirement. They were the couple in Red Willow County who had been married the longest at the time of his death, having been married for 74 years. He served on the Bartley town board and helped with the Dry Creek watershed project and canal on the west side of Bartley. After he decided to retire from the City Board, he was reelected for another term by a write-in vote. He was a past member of the Bartley Lions Club. He was preceded in death by his parents; his twin brother, Carl and wife, Alyce; six sisters and their husbands, Laura Stewert and husband, Don, Clara King and husband, Floyd, Bertha Ridenour and husband, Oscar, Anna Dunn, and twins Lillian Polley and husband, Darrell, and Tillie Avery and husband, Wayne; one son-in-law, Alan Redfern; and two great-grandchildren, Liegh Ann and Kurt Redfern. Survivors include his wife, Lucille of Bartley; one daughter, Patsy Lee Redfern; one brother-in-law, Gerald Gammill of Nampa, Idaho; one grandson; and one great-granddaughter. Services will be Wednesday, 2 p.m., at the Bartley Christian Church with Pastor Clark Bates officiating. Interment will be at the Bartley Cemetery. Lockenour-Jones Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements.