Eugene Lesmeister

Funeral services for Eugene J. Lesmeister of Morris, will be held Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at 10:30 am at Assumption Catholic Church in Morris. Father Robert Kieffer will be officiating. Visitation will be held Monday from 5 to 7 pm, with a prayer service at 5:00 pm, at Pedersen Funeral Home in Morris, and for one hour prior to services at the church on Tuesday. Burial will be at the Calvary Cemetery in Morris.

Eugene John Lesmeister, son of Zeno and Ida (Jost) Lesmeister, was born May 2, 1917 in Montrose, MO. When Eugene was 2 years old, his family moved to Morris, Minnesota, where he grew up and received his schooling. On October 12, 1940, Gene was united in marriage to Katie Valentine at Assumption Catholic Church in Morris. The couple made their home in Morris, where Gene worked primarily as a blacksmith. In 1950, Gene opened the Morris Blacksmith Shop, which he owned and operated until his retirement in 1980. He then sold the business to his son, Tom, who continues to run the business today. Gene also has two grandsons that also work with the business today, and he was very proud that it has continued as a family business all these years. Gene and Katie continued to live in Morris following their retirement.

Gene was a long-time member of the NRA, and he has always enjoyed hunting and fishing. He also loved figuring out how to solve problems. He was extremely creative and could invent and build any tool or machine for any problem that came up. It was said of Gene that, "He could fix everything but a broken heart and weld anything but the crack of dawn."

Gene died on Thursday, July 5, 2012 at his home in Morris, having lived to reach the age of 95 years.

He is survived by his wife, Katie Lesmeister of Morris; five children: Betty (David) Schwanke of Grey Eagle, Rose (Mark) Voigt of Elk River, Tom (Roxanne) Lesmeister of Morris, Tony Lesmeister of Donnelly and Annette (Ken) Veum of Morris; five sisters: Helen Staples of Morris, Irene Sauter of Pine City, Dorothy Ascheman of Burnsville, Deloris (Bob) Buhl of Graceville and Joan Hanrahan of Morris; 17 grandchildren: Paul Paglusch, Rich (Deanna) Asmus, Collin Kopitzke, Russell Schwanke, Jason Bruns, Lucas Lesmeister, Casey (Danielle) Lesmeister, Christopher Lesmeister, Jesse Lesmeister, Audrey (Steve) McNally, Lisa (Jeff) Amidon, Shawn (Ed) Tripet, Sheri Blair, Laura Paglusch, Nicole (Don) McKee, Sarah (William) Heldorfer and Jennifer Lesmeister; 14 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandson. He was preceded in death by three children: Roger Lesmeister, Louise Nygaard and Mary Blair; his parents; six brothers: Leonard, LeRoy, Bernard, Richard, James and William Lesmeister and two sisters: Valeria Osterman and Loretta DeVaan and daughter-in-law: Theresa Lesmeister.

Pallbearers for the service will be Gene's Grandsons, with his Granddaughter's serving as honorary pallbearers. Linda Hodgson will serve as pianist for the service, with Gary Uphoff serving as soloist and Ken Hodgson serving as song leader.