Frank Zeek
Obituaries June 7, 2017 Mundwiler Funeral Home 1
Frank Lowell Zeek of Big Stone City, died June 7, 2017, at Prairie Lakes Hospital in Watertown, SD.
Funeral services will be held on Monday, June 12, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. at the First English Lutheran Church in Ortonville. Rev. David Tonn will officiate. Burial will be held in the Greenwood Cemetery, Big Stone City. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church.
Frank Lowell Zeek was born September 4, 1923, to Frank and Venus (Likens) Zeek. He grew up and graduated from high school in Ironton, OH. Frank attended Ohio State University for one year. He played the trombone in the marching band in both high school and college.
Frank entered the National Guard at age seventeen. In WWII, he was an Army Air Force pilot. After the war, Frank finished college at the University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, with a degree in Chemical Engineering.
During Frank’s working career, he worked at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. He worked for the Celanese Corp in New York City and McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis County. He then worked with the Civil Service for the Marine Corp in Michigan until his retirement in late 1997.
Frank and Clara (Christensen) were married on April 2, 1955, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Dayton, Ohio. Frank and Clara returned to Lockwood Township near Big Stone City by the end of 1997.
Frank shot skeet and trap and belonged to the Piston Club in Missouri and Mississippi. He was a lover of grand opera and classical music. Frank sang in the church choir all his life and enjoyed both collegiate and community choir.
He had a passion for motorcycling in his late 40’s and gave it up when he was 91 years old. He traveled over 100, 000 miles on a BMW and then switched to a Harley Davidson. Along with his passion for motorcycles, he liked to play Bridge and was an avid reader.
Left to mourn his death is his wife, Clara; three sons: David Zeek of Big Stone City, SD, Douglas Zeek of Idaho falls, ID, and Duane (Jan) Zeek of Sterling Heights, MI; his brother-in-law, Clifford Christensen of Big Stone City, SD; and many nieces and nephews.
Frank was preceded in death by his parents: Frank and Venus; two sisters-in-law: Ileen Christensen and Bertha Alyea; and one brother-in-law, Dr. James Alyea.