Joseph Thoennes

Joseph F. “Joe” Thoennes was born on April 10, 1925, to John and Katherine (Terfher) Thoennes and grew up on a farm near Urbank.  Joe attended Thoennes District 85 School through the eighth grade and worked various jobs in the Urbank/Millerville area until being inducted in the United States Army.

On September 17, 1951, Joe was united in marriage to Lorraine Ritten.  Joe was deployed to Korea to continue his military service.  Joe received a commendation ribbon with a metal pendant from the United States Army in recognition as Master Sergeant for his meritorious service from 1951-1953 while serving in Korea as Sergeant of an antiaircraft Artillery automatic weapons platoon, helping to coordinate and maintain in constant readiness the eight firing units within his platoon.  By his continued intelligent supervision of training, operation, and discipline, he kept the initiative, zeal, and devotion to duty in all of his assignments which reflected great credit on himself and his military service.  Upon honorable discharge from the military, Joe and Lorraine moved to Milwaukee, WI where he did plumbing and heating.  In 1954, they moved to Alexandria; he was Assistant Manager at Wedum’s Supply and was later promoted to Manager.  Joe was a member of the Catholic Order of Foresters, Elks, VFW and American Legion.

Joe died on October 23, 2020, at the age of 95.  He is survived by his six children, Nancy (Fred) Bocklund, Wayne (Carol) Thoennes, Diann (Jeffrey) Rolin, William (Lynn) Thoennes, Kenneth (Christine) Thoennes, and Randy (Paulette) Thoennes; sixteen grandchildren, Matthew (Sara) Bocklund, Jana Bocklund, Jeremy (Candy) Thoennes, Angela (John) Nelson, Michelle (Aaron) Zollner, Stephanie (Corey) Groetsch, John (Marissa) Rolin, Michael (Shari) Rolin, Jacob (Sherri) Thoennes, Rebecca (Ben) Hittle, Jordan Thoennes, Corey (Jamie) Thoennes, Benjamin (Katherine) Thoennes, Brian Thoennes, Vanessa (Kevin) Ryan, Alyssa Thoennes; several great-grandchildren; and sister, Laura Cichy.  Joe is preceded in death by his wife; great-granddaughter; parents; brothers and sisters.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 1:00 PM on Saturday, October 31, 2020, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Alexandria.  Visitation will be held from 11-12:30 PM on Saturday, October 31, 2020, at the Anderson Funeral Home prior to the service at the church.  The service will also be livestreamed on the funeral home website.  Military Honors provided by the Alexandria Veterans Memorial Unit and the Minnesota National Honor Guard.  Interment will be held at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery.

To protect the safety of all, masks will be required.