Marion SORENSEN

SORENSEN, MADSEN, SHRECKENGOST, CHRISTIAN, EARL, NAN, BEHM, HARTIN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/10/2010 at 11:47:02

September 2, 1919 -- June 8, 2001

Marion Sorensen, 81 of Clear Lake died Friday night, June 8, 2001, at home. His funeral was held 11 a.m. Tuesday, June 12, at the Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 North 4th Street, Clear Lake, with Pastor Peter Narum of Galilean Lutheran Church, Clear Lake, officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City. The Clear Lake VFW will conduct military honors. Those planning an expression of sympathy may direct memorials to Marion Sorensen Memorial Fund in care of Scot Sorensen.

Marion was born Sept. 2, 1919 on a farm near Corwith, to Emil and Metha (Madsen) Sorensen. He grew up in Corwith, but returned to Denmark at age five with his family for a portion of one year. He graduated from Corwith High School in 1937, he joined the Army Air Corps, serving from 1941 through 1945 during World War II as a flight engineer on a B29 bomber. After military service he worked as a pesticide sprayer and a meat cutter at Decker's in Mason City. He then worked as a carpenter and homebuilder for Saucke Hardware, and later became a self-employed homebuilder. After retiring he continued to work on occasion for his son, Scot, and to do small jobs on his own. He also helped many neighbors and friends with small projects. He married Helen Shreckengost of Mason City, Iowa on Sept. 14, 1947. Helen died of cancer in 1969. He later married and divorced Muriel Christian. He greatly enjoyed fishing, playing cribbage, and playing pool with his grandchildren and his friends.

Besides his wife, Helen, Marion was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by a daughter, Sue Ellen Earl of Bend, Oregon; two sons, Steven Sorensen and wife, Jennifer, of Rochester, Minn., and Scot Sorensen and wife, Dana, of Clear Lake; eight grandchildren; three stepchildren, Clark Christian and wife, Mary Nan of Omaha, Mark Christian and wife, Maria, of West Des Moines, and Diane Behm and husband, John Behm of Des Moines; and eight stepgrandchildren. He is also survived by a sister, Ethel Hartin, of Clear Lake, and a brother, Charles (Chuck) Sorensen, of Corwith.