GELNER, Wayne Francis

GELNER, ROACH, HINES, BEHRENDS, THOMPSON, MOFFETT, VANEVERY, SINCLAIR, RODRIQUEZ, HOPKINS

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 3/18/2018 at 18:43:12

Obituary ~ Wayne Francis Gelner
October 10, 1921 ~ October 04, 2003

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
October 07, 2003

FOREST CITY — Wayne Francis Gelner, 81, of Forest City, formerly of Mason City, died Saturday (Oct. 4, 2003) at the Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Hogan-Bremer-Moore Colonial Chapel, 126 Third Street N.E., Mason City. Following the funeral service, his body will be cremated with inurnment at a later date.

Visitation will be one hour prior to service time on Wednesday at the chapel.

Wayne Francis Gelner was born on Oct. 10, 1921, in rural Garner, the son of Emil and Catherine (Roach) Gelner. He received his education in the rural school near Forest City.

He was united in marriage to Rosemary Hines on May 3, 1949, in Forest City. She preceded him in death in 1995.

After their marriage they farmed in the Forest City area.

In 1952, they moved to Mason City and Wayne worked for Armour Meat Packing Company, was a boxcar sweeper for several years for Northwestern States Portland Cement Co., and also worked for the Mason City Water Department before going back to Armour Meat Packing Company. After the meat packing company closed down, he laid water pipeline in the Garner area until his retirement. In the 1970s, he owned and operated a rubbish hauling service in Mason City.

He enjoyed gardening, canning, fishing, loved animals especially horses, loved to visit with people and accepted them for who they were; but his great love and enjoyment was his family.

He was a member of Holy Family Catholic Church in Mason City, was a senior volunteer, attended St. James Catholic Church in Forest City and was a former member of the Moose Lodge in Mason City.

Left to cherish his memory are his children, Rhea Behrends and her husband, Leon, of Forest City; and a son, Timothy Gelner and his wife, Emma, of Forest City; four grandchildren, Lisa Thompson and her husband, Duane, of Forest City, Marc Behrends and his wife, Amber, of Forest City, Sara Moffett and her husband, Dustin, of Thompson, and Captain Daniel VanEvery and his wife, Heidi, stationed in Tokyo, Japan; six great-grandchildren, Kate and Jake Thompson, Logan and Teddy Wayne Behrends, and Carver and Cooper Moffett; three sisters, Kathleen Sinclair, of Mason City, Pat Rodriguez, of Mason City, and Rosemary Hopkins, of Florida; as well as other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Rosemary in 1995; a daughter, Vicki VanEvery in 1996; and a sister, Bonnie Gelner.

Hogan-Bremer-Moore Colonial Chapel, (641) 423-2372.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2018