WENZEL Fred John Jr. (1927-2016)

WENZEL, DIRKSEN, JANSSEN, MENKE, SPITLER, TABBERT, SERVANTEZ, DIPPEL, VANCURA

Posted By: Betsy Monson (email)
Date: 3/23/2022 at 12:01:20

Fred John Wenzel, Jr., 88, of Belmond, passed away on Friday, April 22, 2016, at the Iowa Specialty Hospital under hospice care from natural causes. Funeral services will be Friday, April 29, 2016, at Immanuel Reformed Church, east of Belmond at 10:30 a.m. The Rev. David DeKuiper will be officiating. Burial with full military honors provided by the Belmond Military Unit will be in the Alexander Cemetery. Visitation will be on Thursday, at Andrews Funeral Home, 516 First St. S.E., Belmond from 5 to 7 p.m., and continues one hour prior to the services at church Friday. Memorials may be directed to the family.

Fred Jr., the oldest of nine children, was born October 5, 1927, to Fred John Wenzel Sr. and Grace (Dirksen) Wenzel. He attended rural country school, Windsor #7 at Alexander, Iowa. Fred, Jr. served in the Army from 1945 and was honorably discharged in 1946 while stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii. He worked as a mechanic during his tenure. Upon his discharge from the service he worked for area farmers until he started farming on his own.

Fred was united in marriage to MaeFerne Janssen, on February 12, 1950, at the Reformed Church Parsonage in Alexander, Iowa. They were proud parents of six children: Caroline, Merlin, Leland, Lore, Carlene, and Craig.

After their marriage they moved to the farm seven miles northeast of Belmond where they raised their family. Fred raised chickens, pigs, dairy and beef cattle. He truly enjoyed his two red tractors which he used while farming. Upon retirement Fred and MaeFerne moved to Belmond in 1980. Fred worked at McLaughlin Brothers Chevrolet as the “Grease monkey” in Belmond. Upon his re-retirement in 1991 from McLaughlin’s, he then mowed lawns and did snow removal for people in Belmond. He enjoyed taking care of the garden; if anyone was trying to help with the garden, you were told how it was done.

The family enjoyed many trips to Oklahoma and Wisconsin, visiting relatives and other places of interest. There was also the usual Sunday afternoon car rides to check on the crops. Upon complete retirement, Fred enjoyed going to True Value in the afternoons for coffee with “the guys.”

There were times when Fred would shake his finger, give “the look”, and then there was the grin and twinkle in his eyes which was given to his children. He like to joke around with everyone he knew resulting in a hearty laugh.

Fred will be lovingly missed by his family: Caroline (John) Menke, Klemme; Leland (Jeanette), Dows; Loren (Laura) Belmond; Carlene (Joe) Spitler, Dows; and Craig (Kim), Kanawha; 11 grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and one due to arrive in September. His siblings: Kathryn Tabbert, Osage; Mary (Tony) Servantez, Mason City; Jim (Joyce) Wenzel, Alexander; Lily Dippel, Belmond; Robert (Carolyn) Wenzel, Alexander; Gladys (Chuck) Vancura, Jackson, Minnesota; Phyllis (Don) Ash, Grundy Center, and his sister-in-law Mildred Wenzel, Belmond. Fred’s in-laws: Kathryn Janssen, Waverly; Clyde (Kathy) Janssen, Mason City; Margaret (Kae) Myers, Altus, Oklahoma; Rebecca (Ray) Ellingston, Belmond; Ralph (Jan) Janssen; Altus, Oklahoma, and numerous nieces and nephews. Fred was preceded in death by his wife MaeFerne on June 5, 2011, son Merlin in infancy on Feb. 4, 1954, step-grandchildren Dusty and Afton, and great-grandchild Abbie. his parents, and brother George, his father-in-law and mother-in-law, in-laws Harry Janssen, Walter and Pearl Janssen, and Harvey and Hope Janssen. Andrews Funeral Home, Belmond, IA.

Mason City Globe Gazette 25 April 2016