Ronald Budke

Funeral Services for Ronald O. Budke, 85, of Mankato, Minnesota formerly of Wheaton, Minnesota will be held Friday, April 9, 2010 at 11:00 A.M. at the Ranney Funeral Home in Wheaton with Rev. Charles Horkey officiating. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the funeral at the funeral home. Interment will be in Monson Township at Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery rural Wheaton, Minnesota at a later date. Ronald was born on March 23, 1925 and grew up on the family farm in Traverse County, Minnesota. He was Baptized and later Confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Monson Township. During his youth he served for a time in the Civilian Conservation Corps in the west, and later after leaving the CCC he began his own trucking business, also in the west, and later continued to be involved in trucking, working for a number of years for a Minneapolis trucking company. On July 15, 1966 he was married to Patricia Kassahn. In more recent years he operated his own lawn care business in southern Minnesota. He loved singing, had sung in both barbershop quartets and choruses, and also loved horses and harness racing. Another rememberance of him is of the ongoing contacts he maintained with friends and members of the family and of the care he showed for those in nursing homes. Ronald was called by our Lord from this life on March 28, 2010 at Immanuel-St. Joseph's Hospital in Mankato, Minnesota He is survived by his younger brother, Clarence Budke of Waynesville, North Carolina; nephews: Wayne Budke of Fargo, North Dakota, Roger Budke and Keith Budke of Wheaton, Timothy Budke of Jupiter, Florida; nieces: Peggy Mitboe of Mountain Home, Arkansas, Elaine McCain of Ashville, Ohio, Evelyn Thompson and Marlene Freeman of Fargo, North Dakota, Carol Kern of Dent, Minnesota, Susan Ward of Ottawa, Kansas, Elizabeth Lyle of Lake Junaluska, North Carolina; and grandnieces and nephews. Memorials are preferred to Immanuel Lutheran Church or other desired organizations.