Louis Thomas Motzko, 97, of Fremont, Wisconsin and Staples Minnesota, died peacefully of natural causes on the evening of July 17, 2018 at home, with family, in Fremont, Wisconsin.
Louis was born on June 16, 1921 to Peter and Francis (Buhl) Motzko, on a small rural farm in Browerville, Minnesota. The youngest of nine children, Louis excelled in grammar school and the outdoor life that was a part of the early 20th Century in America. During the Great Depression Years, Louis joined the US Government’s Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCCs, working on construction crews across the Northern United States.
At the outbreak of World War II, Louis enlisted in the US Army in November of 1942, and was assigned to the newly formed 10th Armored Division, training for combat at Fort Benning, Georgia, before being shipped overseas by Troop Ship to land in France at the port of Cherbourg, joining General George Patton’s Third Army, and was one of the first to arrive at Bastogne, Belgium to hold the line for 10 days against insurmountable enemy odds during what has become known as “The Battle of the Bulge”.
Staff Sergeant Louis Motzko stayed on in Paris, France at the end of the war as the Chief Railroad Inspector, returning to the United States and his Minnesota home in June 1947, where he secured employment in St Paul and met his soon to be wife, Olive May Gilbertson, on a blind date. Louis and Olive had four children, two born on the East Side of St Paul in a cottage without plumbing, moving to Vadnais Heights in 1957. Louis worked at the Whirlpool Corporation for 30 years, retiring in 1981 to work residential construction for another 10 years before Louis and Olive relocated to his hometown of origin near Staples, Minnesota where he lived until 2016. After his wife Olive’s passing in 2014, Louis lived with his grandson Matthew Metcalf at their Staples home, moving in 2016 to live with his daughter Linda and her husband Michael Kiecker, in Fremont, Wisconsin. A proud member of the Veteran’s of Foreign Wars Post 10407 and a devoted member of St. John’s East Bloomfield Lutheran Church, Louis is remembered for his passion for people, love for family, devotion to Christ.
Louis is survived by, daughter, Linda Kiecker and husband Mike, adopted daughter Susie Bevers (Fremont, WI); sons, Roger and wife Cecelia (Eagle River, AK); Wayne and wife Sheila (Vadnais Heights, MN); Glenn and wife Sue (Verndale, MN); grandchildren, Jennifer; Jessica; Joshua; Matthew; Justin; Jeremiah; Walker; Leah; Trevor; Alexis and 11 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Peter and Francis (Buhl) Motzko; sisters, Mary and Agnes; brothers, Steven, Tony, John, Vincent, Raymond and Edward; wife Olive of 64 years, and great-grandson Everett.
A caring and loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Louis will be remembered by everyone he knew as an honest, hard-working, talented man whose disposition and quiet wisdom was a model to all who knew him. A memorial service honoring Thomas will be held on Sunday August 5, 2018 at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church, East Bloomfield. The Lewin Funeral Home, Fremont is assisting the family with arrangements.