Guila Kurtz

Memorial services for Guila Kurtz, age 97, of Echo will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2022, at Rock Valle Lutheran Church rural Echo. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 20, 2022, at Sunset Funeral Home in Echo and will continue one hour prior to the service on Saturday at the church. Private family interment will follow in the Echo City Cemetery.

Guila Mae Lavon (McLeod) Kurtz was born in Echo on April 27, 1924, to Neil and Elsie McLeod. She was one of seven children. She was confirmed at Peace Lutheran Church in Echo and attended K – 12 in Echo, graduating in 1942.

She helped her folks with the McLeod Café and was later employed at the Echo Creamery.  She married Amos Kurtz and had seven sons. Guila worked in the kitchen at the Echo School while raising and refereeing seven boys. Then she went into business with her mother taking over the Echo Clothing Store. After this business venture Guila started a new career working at Zytec in Redwood Falls, where she made many new friends. Retirement included the Legion Auxiliary, Hope Market, Senior dining, spending time with her family, watching her favorite game shows; she was an avid supporter of the E.C.H.O. Charter School and her favorite past time was playing scratch-offs while Sam her cat would sit in her lap.

Guila died on December 20, 2021 at the Parkview Senior Living Center in Belview, MN. She is survived by her sons: Dwight (LeAnn) Kurtz of Echo, Kevin (Mirtha) Kurtz of Rosemount, Jeff (Darlene) Kurtz of Echo, Quentin Kurtz of Princeton, Bradley Kurtz of rural Granite Falls, and Tim Kurtz of Hyattville, WY; grandchildren: Chad (Theresa) Kurtz, Stefanie (Joel) Sage, Jessica (Travis) Leenerts, Michael (Melanie) Kurtz, Tracy Kurtz, Lindsey Kurtz, and Adam Kurtz; great-grandchildren: Allison (fiancé Pete) Kurtz, Chole (Jake) Miller, Avery and Vander Sage, Gerrod, Narria and Everra Leenerts, Paxton, Brinley and Easton Kurtz; great-great-grandchildren: Cora Mae Kurtz and Milo Miller; baby sister Corlys Chase, along with many nieces and nephews.

Guila is preceded in death by her parents Neil and Elsie McLeod, son Wesley Kurtz, granddaughter Chantelle Kurtz, brothers: Finley and Kenneth “Boyce,” and sisters: Delilah (Tom) Klippstein, Eveleth (Egan) Lohmann and Karen (Manley) Jensen.

Arrangements with
Sunset Funeral & Cremation Association
Echo, Minnesota