Wentzel, Ralph 1899-1994

WENTZEL, MONITI, SIMPSON, HICKS, OWENS

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 7/20/2012 at 07:59:38

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register; July 25, 1994

RALPH WENTZEL

Ralph Wentzel, 94, of No. 4 Fifteenth Ave. Ct., Grinnell, died Wednesday, July 20, at Friendship Manor.

Funeral services were conducted at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Smith Funeral Home, with the Rev. Daniel I. Ogata, pastor of the Malcom United Presbyterian Church, officiating. Organist was Margaret Wheeler, and pallbearers were Jerry Carter, Kenneth Clifton, Jim Kriegel, Harvey Martindale, Wayne Neville and Tom Varnum. Burial was in Ivy Hill Cemetery, Malcom.

Memorial contributions in Mr. Wentzel's name may be made to the Ivy Hill Cemetery Association or to the Malcom United Presbyterian Church and sent in care of the Smith Funeral Home, P.O. Box 368, Grinnell 50112.

He was the son of John and Augusta Moniti Wentzel and was born Dec. 16, 1899, in Malcom. He was a graduate of Malcom High School. Following his education he worked on area farms and as a truck driver.

During World War II he served with the U.S. Navy at Great Lakes Naval Base near Chicago and at Philadelphia.

He was married to Jeanie M. Simpson June 3, 1953, in Missouri. The couple lived in Malcom where he was postmaster and a rural mail carrier. He retired from the Postal Service in 1965 and farmed near Malcom. He moved to Grinnell in Janaury 1981.

Mr. Wentzel was a member of the Malcom Presbyterian Church, the Malcom Masonic Lodge and the Grinnell American Legion.

He is survived by his wife. He was preceded in death by his parents and three sisters, Viola Hicks, Ida Owens and Lizzie Wentzel.