Lyle C. Frank
July 4, 1925 ~ October 26, 2016 (age 91) 91 Years OldShare using:
Lyle Carlton Frank, 91, of Preston, passed away Wednesday, October 26 at the Spring Valley Care Center.
Lyle was born July 4, 1925, to Charles Frederick Frank and Clara Jacobson Frank near Etna where he attended Etna School, worked on the family farm, and worked for a time for Standard Oil Gas Storage on Highway 16 east of Spring Valley.
He married Mavis Irene Lentz on December 18, 1946 at Bloomfield Lutheran Church where he ushered, sang in the men’s quartet and sang with Mavis in the choir.
They lived in Etna for a time, farmed as a tenant farmer with the Stoskopf family a time in Canton, Minnesota and then moved and farmed near Mystery Cave near Spring Valley until November 1958. They moved to the Buffalo Grove area near Preston and farmed there until retirement. He most enjoyed Herefords, feeder pigs, and sheep, and mowing lawn.
Lyle sold Vitabolator Feeds from Omaha, Nebraska and sold Archer Oil. Lyle enjoyed fishing and hunting, soil conservation, strip farming and establishing dams and meadowlands. With his sons, he established the farm as an official Minnesota Tree Farm.
Lyle and Mavis joined Christ Lutheran Church where he taught Sunday School for a time and sang in the choir. He sang in the State Line Male Chorus where he said he learned to enjoy drinking coffee. Lyle and Mavis sang extensively in church for funerals and special music as well as at various other churches and events all their life.
Lyle enjoyed good cooking, especially club, lefse, and lutefisk, and he enjoyed church dinners, WCCO radio, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, KNXR, and his grandchildren.
Lyle is survived by two daughters and three sons: LaDonna (Jack) Kranz of St. Charles, MN, Carolyn Frank of Olympia, WA, Noel (Noël Quale) Frank of Owatonna, MN, Carlton (Gina) Frank of Austin, MN, and Christian (Tracy) Frank of Custer, SD.
Lyle is survived by 7 grandchildren Michael (Terri) Kranz of Locust Grove, VA, Janet (Toby) Davis of Pineville, AR, Crystalyn (Jesse) Autochovich of Portland, OR, Alec (Lydia) Frank of Austin, MN, Erica (Ben) Nelson of Austin, MN, Dylan Frank of Custer, SD, and Ethan Frank of Custer, SD, and 13 ½ great grandchildren.
Lyle is survived by a sister Clarice Frank Clark of Spring Valley, sister-in-law and brother-in-law Elaine and Jon Stedelman of Rochester, sisters-in-law Bernice Root of Wykoff, Francis Passe of Rochester, sister-in-law and brother-in-law Carol Jean and Ernest Meyers III of Wykoff, sisters-in-law Pauline Lentz of Spring Valley, and Arlone Crowson of Hastings, MN.
Lyle was preceded in death by his wife Mavis Irene Lentz Frank, daughter Mary Irene Frank, his parents, two brothers Clayton and Beatrice Nagel Frank of Cherry Grove, and Donald Frank of Spring Valley, sister Nora and Wendell Vrieze of Cherry Grove, sister Charlotte and Albert Nelson of Ostrander, and brothers-in-law Lyle Clark of Spring Valley, Doane Root of Wykoff, Eugene Passe of Rochester, Jerry Lentz of Spring Valley, and Mervin Crowson of Lake City, MN.