Tonsfeldt, Wallis 1927-2004

TONSFELDT, COOK, JANSEN

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 6/8/2009 at 19:51:55

Wallis "Wally" Tonsfeldt, 76, of Spirit Lake, Iowa, formerly of Sioux City, died Friday, May 21, 2004, at Lakes Regional Healthcare in Spirit Lake.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Grace Lutheran Church in Spirit Lake. Burial will be in Lakeview Gardens Cemetery. Visitation will be after 4 p.m. today, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m., at Turner Funeral Home in Spirit Lake.

Wally was born Nov. 10, 1927, to August and Mabel (Cook) Tonsfeldt, in Le Mars, Iowa. He grew up on a farm near Remsen, Iowa, and attended country school. In 1945, he graduated from Le Mars High School. The next year he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He later served in Korea. In 1954, he graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in agriculture. After farming for one year, he began a 28-year career with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service. During these years, he lived in Sioux City. He was an assistant Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 100 and received a Silver Beaver Award.

On July 21, 1957, he married Deloris Marie Jansen, in Manning, Iowa. To this union four children were born.

In 1969, the couple purchased a cottage on Spirit Lake. In 1984, they retired to a new home built on the site of their cottage. During his retirement years, he helped start and was active in the Dickinson County Trails Association. He served as president of the Spirit Lake Protective Association. He enjoyed golf and maintained the grounds at Indian Hills Golf Course for seven years until his health failed.

Survivors include his wife, Deloris; two sons, James and his wife, Robbi of Gretna, Neb., and John of Milford, Iowa; two daughters, Lisa Tonsfeldt and her life partner, Donna Rath of Grand Junction, Colo., and Ann and her husband, Hans Hoffmeister of Vehlefranz, Germany; eight grandchildren; two brothers, Murl of Granville, Iowa, and Clifford of Remsen, Iowa; and two sisters, Marion Taylor of Cleghorn, Iowa, and Joyce Mercer of Fonda, Iowa.

He was preceded in death by his parents; and a brother-in-law, Robert Mercer.

~Source: The Sioux City Journal, May 24, 2004