John Henry "Hank" ARENDS

ARENDS, BODE, STATE, ZANGEL, ALDRICH, MCNEAL, TUCKER, BENSON, VANDUSSELDORP

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/2/2007 at 16:57:05

Mason City Globe-Gazette
October 6, 1998

BELMOND — Henry "Hank" Arends, 85, of Belmond, died Sunday (Oct. 4, 1998) at the Belmond Health Care Center. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the United Church of Rowan, with Pastor JoAn Skyrme officiating. Interment will be in the Graceland Memorial Gardens, Rowan. Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the Tenold Funeral Home, Belmond and one hour prior to services on Wednesday at the church.

John Henry "Hank" Arends was born near Alexander, on Nov. 17, 1912, the son of John Casper "J.C." and Anna (Bode) Arends. He attended school in Alexander. He married Marian Irene State at the Little Brown Church in Nashua on April 20, 1938. Hank and Marian had five children. Henry never lost his fascination with the growing fields of corn and soybeans, and the excitement of harvest. He was forever pointing out "wild roosters" (pheasants) and other animals and plants in nature. In recent years, nothing made Hank happier than going for a ride with Marian to look at the crops. Hank was well known for his unique perspective on life. Even well into his 70s he could kick the top of a doorway. His children compiled a book on his sayings which included, "tougher than boiled owl," "slicker than skinned beef," and "so slippery you could slide down hill." His family holds dear the nicknames he bestowed upon them.

Left to mourn him are his wife, Marian, of rural Belmond; his children, Gloria Zangel and her husband, Bob, of Las Vegas; Lynne Aldrich and her husband, Lee, of Belmond; John Arends and his wife, Judy, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Dale Arends and his wife, Trese, of Belmond, and Alison McNeal and her husband, Sherman, of Cedar Falls; 14 grandchildren; six grandchildren; one brother, Richard Arends, of Kanawha; and one sister, Lena Vandusseldorp, of Alexander; and many nieces, nephews, and friends. Henry was preceded in death by his parents, J.C. and Anna; sisters, Edna Tucker and Hazel Benson; brother, Orville Arends; an infant brother; and an infant granddaughter, Lorlei Aldrich.