Ordele Boock passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, at the Lutheran Home in Belle Plaine.

A private service will be held.

Ordele Mae Boock was born on January 7, 1925, in Winthrop, Minnesota. Her parents were Edwin and Marie (Otto) Bauermeister.

The Bauermeister family moved to New Ulm in 1926 and became members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Ordele attended St. Paul's Lutheran School and was confirmed by Pastor Gerhard Hinnenthal after completing eighth grade in 1939.

Ordele attended New Ulm Public High School and graduated in 1942. Near the end of her senior year, she began her career as bookkeeper at Buenger's Furniture Store. She worked there for 3½ years until the store closed.

Ordele met her future husband, Erwin Boock, when they competed for time on the Riverside Park tennis courts. However, Erwin left for U.S. Naval training in November 1942. He was stationed in 1944 at the Naval Air Station, Port Lyautey, French Morocco, North Africa, where he served as aviation radio and radarman with Blimp Squadron 14. When Erwin returned, they were married on June 28, 1946, by Pastor Hinnenthal at St. Paul's in New Ulm.

Ordele and Erwin raised three children, Paulette, Bradley, and Bruce, in New Ulm. When they entered school, Ordele continued her career as bookkeeper for J.C. Penney, Wilfahrt Brothers, and New Ulm Electric until she retired.

Ordele was an active member of the St. Paul's quilters for many years, and she shared many of her own hand-stitched quilts with her entire family. She was also an avid gardener of flowers and vegetables, and her carefully tended feeders were always busy with birds.

Family was always the center of Ordele's life as she saw her children marry and raise children of their own. Grandchildren spent weekends with her, helping her with her garden, going swimming or roller-skating, and knowing that the cookie jar would always be full! Yearly Easter-egg hunts in New Ulm continued until 2016, and the family Christmas cookie-baking weekend tradition continues now into a third generation.

Ordele is survived by daughter Paulette (Dale) Hultgren, son Bruce (Anne Marie) Boock, and daughter-in-law Jean Boock; granddaughter Kellie (Patrick) Hultgren, grandson Aaron (Bridget) Boock, granddaughter Kristen (Ed) Boock; and great-grandchildren Cassandra and Maxwell Boock.

She was preceded in death by her husband Erwin, her son Bradley, her brother Harlan Bauermeister, and her grandson Gregory Hultgren.