Leona Koslowsky

Services for Leona “Lee” (Loepp) Ratzlaff Koslowsky, 95, who died Friday at Hillsboro Community Hospital, will be 1 p.m. today at Parkview Mennonite Brethren Church, Hillsboro. Pastor Dave Loewen will officiate.

Born Dec. 16, 1928, to Jacob and Marie (Toews) Loepp, she grew up on a farm near Inman, attended West Eagle School, and graduated from Buhler High School.

After a year at Tabor College, she taught at Williams School in Marion County and on Aug. 25, 1949, married Allen Ratzlaff, whom she had met at Tabor.

They farmed near Canada and then northeast of Hillsboro. She worked for four years as a nurse’s aide at Salem Hospital in Hillsboro and taught Sunday school at Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church.

After Allen died of pancreatic cancer in 1977, Leona worked as an aide at Parkside Homes and moved to Hillsboro. She transferred to Parkview Mennonite Brethren Church after marrying Pete Koslowsky on Aug. 7, 1994.

They moved to Parkside in 2005. He died in 2008.

Survivors include daughter Aleen Ratzlaff and son Don Ratzlaff of Hillsboro; daughter Jone Lee of Olathe; stepchildren Ken Koslowsky, Janice Willems, Mel Koslowsky, Tom Koslowsky, and Myrna Jost; sisters Helen Faul of Minnesota and Velma and Junis Schroeder of Inman; six grandchildren; seven step-grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and five step-great-grandchildren.

In addition to her husbands, daughter Kaye Ann Bartel, four brothers, and four sisters preceded her in death.

Memorials have been established with Tabor College and Parkside.