Thomas John Statz

Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:00 a.m. Friday, January 10, 2014 at Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Richmond, MN for Thomas J. Statz, age 91, who died peacefully Sunday at Assumption Home. Burial will be in the parish cemetery.

Relatives and friends may call from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. Thursday at the Wenner Funeral Home in Richmond. Parish prayers will be at 8:00 p.m. Visitation will continue from 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. Friday morning at the funeral home.

Tom was born on a farm near Richmond, MN to Leonard and Anna (Vossen) Statz. He married Leona Anna Rausch on September 24, 1946 in St. Catherine’s Catholic Church in Farming, MN. With the skills he’d learned at home, Tom became a successful dairy farmer with about 350 acres of land near Foley. His family also raised pigs and had a poultry barn for Jack Frost. He was on the local school boards where his children attended school, and was an active Knights of Columbus member and a lay leader of St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Gilman.

After selling the farm to their sons, Tom and Leona retired to Richmond, where they spent more than 30 years enjoying time with family and friends – participating in church activities (including mission group), bowling, fishing, and playing cards. While in Richmond, Tom continued to work part-time, driving school bus and working at a rest stop on I-94. Those experiences and his many years on the farm provided lots of material for his love of storytelling.

Survivors include his children, Joyce (David Hogan), Robert (Mary Lynn), Gilbert (Vicki), Eldred (Sue), Marlene (Dan) Hovland, Bernice (Gary) Beehler, Howard (Susan), James (Connie), Vinard (Sandy), Laura (Brett) Johnson, Brian (Heather), and Charlotte (Craig) Karolus; brother, Arnold; sisters, Anna Catherine Schmitt and Agatha Kunstleben; 29 grandchildren; and 36 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Leona (2013); brother, Gregor and his sister Leona Funk.

The family wishes to thank the staff of Assumption Home for their kind, gentle care, as well as the staff of St. Croix Hospice.