Irwin L. Hokel was born Oct. 16, 1917 to Henry A. and Gladys A. Tweed Hokel. He died Apr. 29, 2007 and is buried in the Milford Cemetery, Milford, IA.
Lt. Hokel served with the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II as a navigator of B-17s and B-29s.
Obituary: Irwin L. Hokel was born October 16, 1917 at Huxley, Iowa to Henry and Gladys Tweed Hokel. The family lived in Humboldt before moving to Stanhope where he graduated from high school in 1936. He attended the Jackson School of business in Chillcothe, MO for a year before going to Des Moines for a job with the Des Moines Register.
On January 18, 1940, he was married to his 7th grade sweetheart, Doris M. Johnson. After the wedding they moved to Baltimore, Maryland where he was employed by Civil Service and the Social Security Administration. In 1942, he was relocated with Civil Service to Redwood Falls, MN. Irwin joined the Army in 1943 and was commissioned as Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. During this time he was a navigator of B-17s and B-29s. After the end of WWII, Irwin and Doris moved to Spencer, IA where he and his brother, Lanny Hokel, owned and operated Hokel's Standard Service. Irwin and Doris then built the Spencer Motel in 1956 which they owned and operated, along with the station, until retiring and moving to Lake West Okoboji in 1969.
Irwin enjoyed fishing, old gas engines and his 2 antique cars, one of which was the first car he drove at age 11. He also enjoyed music, his small car collection, traveling and spending winters first in Florida, then in Texas. He was a member of Bethany Lutheran Church of Spencer and later of the First Lutheran Church of Milford. He was also active in the Masonic Lodge and Abu Bekr Shrine.
Irwin passed away in his sleep on April 29, 2007 at the Milford Nursing Center.
Surviving are his wife, Doris of Wahpeton; daughters, Ann Hokel of Wahpeton and Ruth Peters and her husband, Bob of Jackson Hole, WY; grandson, Jeff Carpenter and his wife, Nanette; granddaughter, Christine Gonzalez and her husband, Victor; great grandchildren, Jeffery, Joshua, and Jacob Carpenter and Justin, Victor and Ashley Gonzalez.
Source: ancestry.com
