Francis Tenge
September 19, 1930 ~ July 25, 2011
Francis A. 'Frank' Tenge age 80 of North Washington died Monday evening, July 25, 2011, at Mercy Medical Center in New Hampton.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:30 a.m. Friday July 29, 2011 at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in North Washington with burial in St. Mary’s Cemetery in North Washington with Msgr. Carl Schmitt officiating. The pall will be placed by his family. Lector for the service will be Linda Huegel. Doris and Cletus Ries will present the offertory gifts. The North Washington Men's Choir will accompany the congregation singing, 'Be Not Afraid', 'Prayer of St. Francis', 'Shall We Gather At The River', 'It's Not The First Mile' and 'Precious Lord Take My Hand'.
Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery, North Washington with Randy Tenge, Dan Tenge, Jared Lenehan, Jason Lenehan, Brian Tenge, Jonah Tenge, Alan Tenge and Jack Seelhammer as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be the Catholic Order Of Foresters. Full Military Honors will be conducted by the Paul Johann VFW Post #4069 of Alta Vista.
Friends may greet the family 3 - 8 p.m. Thursday at the Hugeback & Chenoweth Funeral Home in New Hampton where there will be a 4:00 p.m. Catholic Order Of Forester Rosary and a 7:00 p.m. parish scripture service. Further visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church on Friday.
Francis Albert 'Frank' Tenge was born September 19, 1930, on the family farm in North Washington, Iowa, the son of Albert and Mary (Gilbert) Tenge. He attended St. Mary's Grade School in North Washington.
Frank was inducted into the United States Armed Forces as a Crpl. on September 9, 1952, serving in Japan during the Korean War. While in the service, Frank was united in marriage to Clara Seelhammer on January 24, 1953, at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in North Washington. To this union eight children were born. He was honorably discharged August 7, 1954, after which he served eight more years in the National Guard. The couple lived their entire lives, raising a family and farming, near North Washington.
Frank enjoyed fishing, hunting, four wheeling and the outdoors. He loved working and spending time in his shop. He was a member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church of North Washington, Catholic Order of Foresters and the I.C. Men's Choir. Frank also served on the Board of Directors of the former Alta Vista State Bank and served on the North Washington Volunteer Fire Department.
Frank is survived by his three sons, Mike (Deb) Tenge of New Hampton, Ken (Chris) Tenge of New Hampton and Tom (Barb) Tenge of Roan Mountain, TN; four daughters, Cathy Tenge of New Hampton, Cindy (Rodney) Lenehan of New Hampton, Jan Tenge of Canada and Karen (Gary) Busta of Hampton, MN; thirteen grandchildren; six great-grandchildren two sister-in-laws, Irma Tenge of New Hampton and Lena Tenge of North Washington.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Clara on November 4, 2007; one son, Patrick in infancy, five brothers, Reynold, Jack, Norb, Joe and Ed Tenge; one sister, Rita Baumgartner; one son-in-law, Steven Leadbeater.
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My thoughts and prayers go out to the entire family for your loss of a loved one. Hold on to all the Memories as they will help ease the pain.
Cindy and Tenge family, I remember Francis as always having a smile and a kind word to share. You are in my prayers in these next challenging days.
To the entire Tenge family: Our deepest sympathy goes out to all of you! Frank was such a wonderful man and will certainly be missed by many! Frank and Clara are together again; special angels watching out for you. Keep your fond memories close to your hearts. Thinking of you in this difficult time.
We are sorry for your loss. May the love and support from family and friends help you through this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
To the Tenge family, We extend our sympathies and will keep you in our thoughts and prayers. Francis was a good man and well liked. Dad talked highly of Francis when he served on the bank board with him. Cherish the memories.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Tenge family during this difficult time. Your Dad will be greatly missed by many. He was a very special Man.
We extend to ALL of you our deepest sympathy–you are in our thoughts–take care
Ken & Chris, I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your father. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family during this difficult time.
My condolences to all the Tenge family. My thought and prayers are with you all in this great loss. Frank was a special man. To Francie, I will miss you, you were like my 2nd dad. I will always remember and carry with me the fond memories of growing up next to you and Clara. My fondest memory is coming to your house on Sunday mornings and riding motorcycles with Tom and you would share the Red Man chew before we wen riding! After we grew up, I loved visiting you and Clara, especially sharing stories of what we did when we were kids. I will always love you. Gary
My sincere condolences to each of you. Francis was a good man, and was always extremely kind and helpful to me. Steve Davidson
To all the family of Francis our deepest sympathy. Take comfort in knowing that he is having a great time where he is at and has been made whole again.
My sympathy and prayers to the whole Tenge Clan. Frank was a wonderful man and will be sincerely missed.
We are so sorry to hear about Francis. Seems like he lived a full life. We are sure your family has many wonderful memories of him. At times like this the Bible comforts us so much. Jesus said in John 5:28&29 there would come a time when those in the memorial tombs would hear his voice and come out. This would also be at a time when Revelation 21:3&4 says there will be no more tears, pain or death. This would all happen when God’s Kingdom comes, the same kingdom that Jesus taught us to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer. What a wonderful prospect for Francis and all those in the memorial tombs now. We express our deepest sympathy. We hope you find comfort in this time of loss.
We would like to extent our deepest sympathy. You are all in our thoughts and prayers. May God be with you through this difficult time. Carolyn Nelson and family
Ken, Chris and entire family–our deepest sympathy goes out to all of you! Your dad was such a wonderful man and I’m sure he will be missed my many! Take care- cherish all those wonderful memories and he will forever be close!! God bless-
Ken, Chris and family. My sympathy goes out to you and family members. You all will be in my thoughts and prayers. God speed to you.
His presence wil be surely missed. Such a fun guy-I had the opportunity to go out to breakfast with ‘the guys’ and we had such fun. Cherish those memories.
My deepest sympathies to each of you. Keeping you in my thoughts and prayers.
To you Cindy and the rest of your family you will really miss your dad as he was a joy to be around but I’m sure he is happy in heaven playing cards with Clara every morning and keeping an eye on you guys. down here Fran and Jerome
Our deepest sympathy in the loss of your dad. Frank was a wonderful neighbor and friend and a lot of fun to be around. Wish we’d had more fish fries and spent more time with him. He will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.
To the Tenge family~~I am very sorry the your loss at this time!! I have great memories of Frank and Clara in years past– when I would stay at their place with Brian!! Frank was a wonderful loving man~~ he will be missed by many!! God bless~~ Love, Staci
Dear Tenge Family, What a sad day! I’m very sorry to hear about Frank passing away. I loved coming over to your house to hang out with Karen…your folks were always so nice to me (esp when I crashed my bicycle on the gravel road). In recent years, it was a favorite activity of my kids to ride with Grampa Cletus on the four-wheeler up to your folks house, knock on the door, and ask Clara ‘Can Fwank come out and pway?’ My prayers are with all of you!!
Mike,Kenny,Tom,Kathy,Cindy,Jan,Karen. I am so very sorry to hear about Francis passing. He was a fantastic person. He will be greatly missed. He is up there now with Clara I am sure the 2 of them are up there now stirring things up. If there is anything I can do just call. I loved them both very very much