Violet M. Gouge

Violet M. Gouge, 73, of Garner, passed away on Thursday, March 7, 2024, at Good Shepherd Health Center in Mason City.

Funeral services were held 1 p.m. Friday, March 15, 2024, at Cataldo Funeral Home,160 E 4th St. Visitation was held one hour before the service time. Interment was in Concord Township Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to the family of Violet Gouge.  

Violet was born July 29, 1950, in Mason City, Iowa. The daughter of Thomas C. Paulsen and Violet Mae (Johnson) Paulsen. She was the youngest daughter of nine children. She graduated from Mason City High School in 1969. On May 18th, 1974, she was united in marriage to Merle J. Gouge Jr. (John) at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Garner.  To this union, two daughters were born Hollie and Tuddie. Violet enjoyed cooking, reading, and spending time with her family and her grandchildren.

The most fitting word to describe Violet is selfless. Her grandchildren, Miranda and Dakota remember her most by helping to raise them growing up. She wasn’t just a grandma to her grandchildren but to all her grandchildren’s friends. Anywhere they’d ask to go, the pool, rides from Klemme to Garner, football and basketball games, she could never say no. She enjoyed preparing supper while the crowd of kids including their dog, Poppy and cat, Checker, waited at the window for Grandpa John to get home. Anyone who walked in their door knows she introduced with, “Don’t look at the mess.” But it wasn’t a mess, it was a home filled with a little bit of chaos and a whole lot of love.

Violet is survived by her two daughters, Hollie Gouge of Steamboat Rock, IA and her special friend, Rob and Tuddie Gouge of Mason City; three grandchildren, Miranda Dodd of Garner, Dakota Dodd of Klemme and Lucas Gouge of Forest City; son-in-law, Darold Dodd of Klemme; special nephew, Thomas J. Paulsen Jr. of Marion; special niece, Crystal Owens-Fuhrman of Huntington Beach, CA; and many other nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; beloved husband, Merle J. Gouge Jr.; four brothers, Thomas Paulsen Jr., Bradley Paulsen, Michael Paulsen, and Francis Paulsen; four sisters, Phyllis Meyering, Charlene Lampshire, Jennifer Goll, and Nicole Helen Birch; and a sister-in-law, Rebeccah Linahon.