Larry Benz

Larry Clifford Benz age 78 of Lawler, IA died Tuesday, September 22, 2020 at New Hampton Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. Funeral service will be held 2:00 p.m. Monday, September 28, 2020 at Saude Lutheran Church with Rev. Peter Faugstad celebrating the service. Interment will follow at the Saude Lutheran Church Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to the Saude Lutheran Church and Cemetery, no flowers please. Masks are encouraged and will be provided at the service on Monday. Friends may greet the family an hour prior to the service on Monday at the church. Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory in New Hampton has been entrusted with the services. Larry Clifford Benz was born on July 28, 1942, to Kenneth and Gunilda (Treider) Benz in New Hampton, and he and his younger sister, Colleen, grew up on the family’s farm north of Lawler. Larry attended the Saude Lutheran School through the eighth grade and then transferred to New Hampton High School, where he was a member of the Class of 1960. Larry then attended Bethany Lutheran College, which was then a two-year school in Mankato, Minnesota. Growing up on a farm, Larry learned the importance of work ethic at a young age, and he was one of those guys who gave 110 percent at every job he held. He worked for Russell Howell Tiling, Oliver Tractor in Charles City, Moorman Seeds and Mracek Electric. He was a man of deep faith who was a lifelong member of Saude Lutheran Church, where he was a longtime Sunday School teacher. And Larry was the kind of Sunday School leader who did his homework on each week’s lesson so that he could have good discussions with his students. In his free time, Larry liked to watch basketball and if there was a garage or a rummage sale he missed, that probably would have been big news. He loved finding unique glassware and antiques, building up quite a collection. Larry never married, but he was an uncle to Dawn and a great uncle to her children, Tyler, Michelle and Alyssa, and he often visited his sister and her husband, Colleen and Doug Breza, at their home in Winona, Minnesota. Larry will be missed greatly by those who knew him, but they are comforted in the fact that the Lord was dear to his heart and that he has found eternal life in Heaven. Larry is survived by his sister, Colleen (Doug) Breza of Bullhead City, AZ; one niece, Dawn (Michael) Donegan of Bullhead City, AZ; two special cousins who were his loving caregivers till the very end, Ann Webster and Sara Knutson. He was preceded in death by his parents.