Wilfred Kenneth Hoefs

Wilfred "Kenny" Hoefs, 87 of Chetek passed away Wednesday, July 1, 2015 at Mayo Clinic Health System-Eau Claire.   He was born February 1, 1928 in Fairmount, North Dakota the son of Herbert and Sophia (Gast) Hoefs.

Ken married Betty Jane Wilke August 9, 1949 in Sisseton, South Dakota.  He joined the military September 10, 1948 serving his country in the Marine Corp.  His duty was active during the end of WWII and Korean Conflict.  He was a recipient of the Purple Heart Medal.  Ken was also a life member of the Chetek V.F.W. Post #10331 and Howard-Campbell-Ganske American Legion Post #179 where he participated in performing military funeral honors.  Early on he operated a small dairy farm.  He retired from the county as the patrolman and was the road superintendent/equipment operator, overseeing all work on the Town of Prairie Lake roads which involved grading, snowplowing, reconstructing and doing general upkeep on the 62 miles of roads in the town for almost 50 years. When he retired as road superintendent in 1997 he ran for town chairman and served 5 terms until he retired from that post in 2007. Even after retirement he acted as a consultant to the town with valuable town information and history. He was greatly appreciated by the people of the The town of Prairie Lake for his many years of service. He enjoyed fishing the Red Cedar River, playing dartball for St. John’s Church but had a passion for polka dancing.

Ken leaves to celebrate his memory, 3 daughters and 1 son; Kathleen (Terry) Walczak of Rosemount, MN, Kenneth J. Hoefs of Osceola, WI, Karol (Richard) O’Brien of Las Vegas, Nevada, Karen (Al) Matson of Cameron, 10 Grandchildren and 22 Great-grandchildren.  He will be sadly missed by his siblings, Katherine (Dwight) Dwello of Libby, Montana, Shirley Hoefs of Fairmount, North Dakota, Ardis (Orville) Smith of Greenwood Village, Colorado and ALL of the people in the Township of Prairie Lake for all his years of dedication and hard work to the town.  He was preceded in death by his parents and wife Betty Hoefs in 2009.

Funeral Services for Ken will be at 11:00 A.M. Monday July 6, 2015 at St. John's Lutheran Church, 1115 W. Main Street, Cameron with Pastor Tylan Dalrymple officiating.  A visitation will be held 4:00 P.M. until 7:00 P.M. Sunday, July 5, 2015 at the Burnham-Ours-Kolstad Family Funeral Home in Chetek and one hour prior to the funeral service at church on Monday.  Interment will take place at Pleasant Plain Cemetery in Prairie Lake Township on "OO" & "SS".  Pallbearers will be Christopher Walczak, Jeremy Walczak, Jamie Hoefs, Travis Hoefs, Andy Wicherski, Rick O’Brien and Sean O’Brien. Following the burial, family and friends are invited back to the church hall for a luncheon and continued fellowship.  Please view and sign the online guestbook at www.burnhamours.com .

Burnham-Ours-Kolstad Family Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements.