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Frank Sonnek Aberdeen, SD QCWA # 22775 Chapter 7 |
Private service for Frank Sonnek, 86, of Aberdeen will be held at Riverside Memorial Park Cemetery at Aberdeen. The Rev. Eldon Reich will officiate.
Frank died peacefully at home with loved ones, after a six month brave struggle with esophageal cancer, on April 13, 2013.
He was born March 5, 1927 in Marmarth, ND to Frank and Nena Ellen (Stuart) Sonnek. He was married to his beloved wife, Muriel Culp Sonnek for 60 years, who preceded him in death five years ago.
Frank was a member of the Dakota Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, with seven proven Patriot ancestors, and, through his mother, could trace his American lineage back to William Cecil who came to Maryland in 1665. He was an U.S. Army veteran of World War II and was a 60 year plus member of the Masonic Lodge and Yelduz Shrine.
Frank was a brilliant man, with a voracious intellectual curiosity. He was a conductor for the Milwaukee Road/Burlington Northern Railroad for 45 years, and was elected by his peers to serve as a union griever.
His remarks in that capacity at a U.S. Senate committee hearing were published in the Congressional Record by Senator George McGovern at the time of the bankruptcy of the Milwaukee Railroad. He was a published author of magazine stories and prolific contributor to a Milwaukee Road blog, regarding his reminiscences of early railroading and Marmarth, North Dakota, days, one of which was republished in the Fargo Forum newspaper by a columnist.
He was the last cowboy and a great storyteller, who would tell limitless fascinating stories ranging from how to hay with a team of horses, to how to break horses, to how to ford his beloved Little Missouri River on horseback in a flood, to what it was like to ride the Badlands of North Dakota around Marmarth, ND, on horseback at a time when there were no fences, to how his Stuart relatives had nine lives, to how to build a root cellar, to what his North Dakota homesteading ancestors went through, to what it was like to work on steam engines.
He could do anything mechanical, including building his own computers and installing his own central air conditioning. Frank was a 50 year advanced class ham radio operator with the call letters KOJM and a FAA licensed aircraft mechanic. He had a great sense of wonder at life and all of God.s creation and was especially grateful that he had lived long enough to see marvels such at the internet.
Frank is survived by his children, Susan (Robert Frisbie) Collins of Katy, TX and Frank (SSG Anthony Pryor) Pryor-Sonnek of Vacaville, CA and two grandchildren, Elizabeth (Capt. Colin Harris) Collins Harris and John (Heather Ford) Collins.
He was preceded in death by his parents, wife, Muriel Culp Sonnek and one sister, Eileen Sonnek Fricke.
Carlsen Funeral Home and Crematory of Aberdeen has been entrusted with arrangements. www.carlsenfh.com
CREDITS
Obituary/biography: http://www.falloncountyextra.com/
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