Obituaries

Charles “Charlie” Michael Lekatz, born, May 7, 1938 and passed away on Saturday, February 10, 2018. He was born in Minnesota and loved fishing and hunting as a boy. He enlisted in the Navy and moved to San Diego where he and his wife Mary Kathryn “Kathy” made a home with their two daughters. He worked at NASSCO for many years. Charlie loved coaching softball and was a coach to both his girls’ teams for many years.
He was in recovery and had several decades of sobriety. He was very, very proud of that. He spent many years helping others and at one time had a house in Imperial Valley, CA where he helped several men gain their sobriety. These men were able to live there while Charlie helped them with their steps to get their lives in order.

Sally Mae Davidson, 102, of Ely, passed away on Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at the Boundary Waters Care Center in Ely. She was born July 21, 1915 in Ely, daughter of Johan and Mana Pusovich. Sally was the past President of VFW Auxiliary in Ely, Sr. Regent of the Order of the Moose, was recognized as the Ely Volunteer of the Year in 1995, and named The Mother of the Year by the Slovenian Women’s Union in 1997.
She is survived by son Tom Morris of San Diego,; grandsons Thomas and Erik Morris of Arizona, and five great grandchildren.
Sally will be buried in the Fort Snelling Memorial Cemetery in Minneapolis alongside her late husband Quinn Davidson. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 24 at 2 p.m. at Kerntz Funeral Home in Ely.
Family arrangements have been entrusted to Kerntz Funeral Home

Marvin Jonas Sr of Ely passed away on Feb. 13, 2018 at the Virginia Care Center.
Marvin loved the outdoors especially hunting and fishing. He was a proud veteran having served as a fore gunner with a B24 bomber crew during World War II. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Cecelia and his daughter Peggy Roise (Goodwin). He is survived by 3 sons Peter (Faith), Marvin (Paula), Charlie (Patsy), 7 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, February 17, 2018 at 11 a.m. at First Lutheran Church in Ely with visitation being held one hour prior to the service at the church. Military honors provided by the Ely Honor Guard.
Family arrangements entrusted to Kerntz Funeral Home of Ely.

Leora (PeeWee) Poppler, 92, of Babbitt, died Feb. 8. She was born March 12,1925. She is survived by her sons: Jack, Don and Doug (of Ely); and daughters Diane, Jean and Joan; many grandchildren including Nathan Poppler of Ely. Services have already been held.

June Marie Grebenc, 93, of Sioux City, formerly Ely, MN, died Saturday, February 10, 2018, at Matney Nursing Home, So. Sioux City, NE.
June was the daughter of Matt and Mary (Likar) Indihar, born June 17, 1924 in Ely. She graduated from Ely Memorial High School in Ely. On May 5, 1941 June was united in marriage with Edward Grebenc in Ely. June worked as a Technician (surgery supply) for Ely Bloomenson Community Hospital in Ely before retiring after many years of service to the hospital. She continued to live in
Ely after Edward’s death in 1991. June moved to Sioux City in 2000 to be close to her daughter.
June is a member of St. Michael Catholic Church of the Holy Cross Parish in Sioux City.
June is survived by her daughter Shari Monckton of Sioux City, Iowa.
She is preceded in death by her parents; husband Edward; daughter Mary Lou Grebenc.
No services are planned. Burial will be at Fort Snelling National Cemetery later this month.

Delbert “Bud” George Fish, 81, of Babbitt, passed away on Saturday, February 10, 2018 at St. Raphael’s Health and Rehabilitation Center in Eveleth.
Bud was born June 1, 1935 in Fosston, MN to George and Elise Fish. He was the youngest of eight children. He lived on the family farm until he was 17 years old.. Bud attended school in Fosston and enlisted in the Army at age 18. He served for a little over three years in Europe during the Korean Conflict.
Bud married Shelby Jean Reichenbach on Sept. 27, 1954. They lived in Fosston with their four children and then moved to Bemidji, MN where Bud worked as an auto mechanic.
In 1965 they moved to Babbitt where he worked for Reserve Mining Company as a truck shop foreman. When Reserve closed, Bud and Shelby moved to Bloomington, MN. Bud worked for the City of Bloomington until he retired in 1997. They then moved back to Babbitt,

Lance Joseph Novak, 37 ,of Cloquet, MN died Tuesday, February 6, 2018. He was born in Ely to James and Mary (Vonwald) Novak.
Lance was preceded in death by his mother, Mary Novak. He is survived by his wife, Janessa and their girls, McKenna and Helen of Cloquet; his father, James Novak of Babbitt; brother, Aaron (Tara) Novak of Wichita, KS.

Rose M. Marsyla, 86, of Virginia,, formerly of Babbitt passed away Friday, February 2, 2018 at the Virginia Care Center.
She was born on July 1, 1931 in Genoa, Minnesota to John and Kristine (Meglen) Ferkul. She was raised in Genoa; then moved to Gilbert as a young girl and graduated from the Gilbert High School.
Rose was a member of St. Pius X Catholic Church in Babbitt.
Survivors include two daughters, Lynne (David) Sherman of Babbitt and Nancy (Donald) Doll of Bovey; one granddaughter, Amanda (Alexander) Castro of Marshall, MN; and one brother, John Ferkul of Virginia.
She was preceded in death by her parents and husband, Allan Marsyla; and sister Christine.

Hazel (Johnson) Miller of Babbitt, died Saturday, February 3, 2018, at her home at Carefree Living in Babbitt. She died peacefully, surrounded by family.
Hazel was born on May 8, 1926, in Jackson, Minnesota, the daughter of Arthur and Susan (Wade) Johnson. She was the third of 10 children born to Art and Susan. She married Roy Miller of Lakefield, Minnesota on January 31, 1942, in Maryville, Missouri. Roy was in the service so, after son Russ was born, Hazel went to Louisiana where Roy was stationed. When Roy shipped out to England, Hazel and Russ returned to Jackson. After Roy got out of the service, the family resided in Jackson until they moved to Deer Park, Wisconsin in 1952, where they owned and operated a café. Eventually she and Roy settled in Babbitt where they raised their six children.

Claude David Kronfuss, 68, peacefully passed away on January 30, 2018, at his home in Bozeman, MT. He was born on October 27, 1949, to Denis and Carol Kronfuss. Claude is the second oldest of 12 children in the Kronfuss family. He is preceded in death by his father, Denis and his ex-wife, Evelyn.
Claude grew up in Babbitt, Minnesota, graduating from JFK High School, class of ‘68. Shortly after graduation, he was in a tragic accident that left him physically and mentally impaired. Despite his disabilities, he loved life, was always positive and never complained. He was famous for telling jokes, beating most everyone in Chess and Checkers, and playing 500 Rummy at a “professional” level. Claude was very proud of his job with the City of Babbitt and prominently displayed his Years of Service Award. He was a member of St. Pius Catholic Church, faithfully attending Mass most every Sunday.