Clara (Brehm) Ernst

Clara (Brehm) Ernst, 89, of Bellevue, passed away peacefully on Saturday, August 30, 2025, at Grand Meadows in Asbury.

A Funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, September 3, 2025, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bellevue. Visitation will be from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 2, 2025, at Hachmann-Mier Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Bellevue. Additional visitation will be held Wednesday morning from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. at the funeral home prior to Mass. Burial will be in St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery, Bellevue.

Clara was born on March 11, 1936, in Peosta, Iowa, the daughter of John and Theresa (Schiessl) Brehm. She married Lawrence J. Ernst on February 19, 1955, at Holy Family Catholic Church New Melleray in Peosta, Iowa. They shared 40 years of marriage before his passing on October 11, 1995.

A devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Clara centered her life around faith, family, and service. She was a lifelong member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, where she was active in the Rosary Society and Parish Council and attended daily Mass. Clara gave generously of her time to her community—serving on the Library Board, working at the local voting precinct, and visiting the homebound. She also held several jobs through the years, including managing the Bellevue Senior Center, cooking for the hot lunch program at Marquette Catholic Schools, and delivering papers for the Telegraph Herald.

Clara found joy in gathering with friends for games of euchre, sewing, cooking, and most especially spending time with her family. While she loved her home, she was also up for adventures - she and Lawrence traveled together in the early days, and later she found traveling partners in her sister, Helen, as well as her children. With those companions, she visited places as far away as Italy, Canada, France and New York City, and places closer to home like Fireside Theater in Wisconsin and trips to Spillville and Algona, Iowa to see churches and other sacred sites. Always one to appreciate her heritage and ancestors, she also made a “trip-of-a-lifetime” to Germany to meet and visit her family still living there.

She will be remembered for too many things to list here, but especially for her unwavering faith, kind heart, wisdom, sense of humor, and the love she shared with all who knew her.

Those left to honor her memory include her children: Sue (Terry) Steil, Cathy (Terry) Ostert, Jean (Jeff) Lange, Pat (Ed) Lehmann, Beth (Fred) Heim, Marilyn Gaber, Barb (Eric) Tupper, Rose (Jim) Koos and Carol (Joe) Kettmann; 31 grandchildren; 40 great-grandchildren; siblings, Rita Ernst and Kay (John) Gaul; a brother-in-law, Tom Smith; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her daughter, Sara; siblings and in-laws, Earl (Esther) Brehm, Marion (Bert) Connolly, Helen (Leo) Steffen, Bill (Ivy) Brehm, Paul Brehm, Theresa Smith, and Margaret Brehm; brothers- and sister-in-law, Anthony Ernst, Richard (Dorothy) Ernst, Victor Ernst, and Arthur Ernst.

A memorial fund has been established in Clara’s memory.

Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.hachmannfuneralhome.com