A Celebration of Life Service for James W. Penner, 70, of St. James, Minnesota will be 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning, July 3, 2015 at Hosanna Free Lutheran Church of St. James. The church is located at 1176 11th Street South.
Interment will be in Mount Hope Cemetery, located on Highway #4 south of St. James.
Pastor Joe Faldet will officiate at the services.
Visitation and a time of sharing memories with the Penner family will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, 2015, at Hosanna Free Lutheran Church and again at the church from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on the day of the funeral service.
Personal words of comfort may be sent to the family online at www. kramerfuneralhome.com
James Walter Penner was born on September 22, 1944, the son of Anthony and Josephine (Strenge) Penner in Mountain Lake, Minnesota. He was raised on a farm just south of Mountain Lake. Jim attended county school, District #12 and later was a graduate of Mountain Lake Public High School. He attended Mankato State University and later went to work at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for the clinic’s Kidney Research-Body Fluids intake and fluid loss through normal sweating and breathing Bear Research.
Jim was employed at various zoos in the United States. From 1963-1976 he was employed doing Bear Research in South Dakota and from 1976-1986, he was employed at Mayo doing research on Bears.
On January 7, 1989, he was united in marriage to Eunice “Tootie” Beckmann at Haywood, Minnesota. Jim owned and operated a Hardware Store in Butterfield for many years. He served on the Butterfield Fire Department, St. James Ambulance Squad as an EMT (emergency medical technician) and belonged to the Butterfield Threshermen’s Association.
He later obtained his Boilers License and worked at Land “O’ Lakes in Mountain Lake and lter for Swift-Eckrich in St. James. Jim was Chief Engineer at Immanuel-St. Joseph’s Hospital in Mankato until his retirement in 2006.
He greatly enjoyed being outdoors, working on the yard, canning, cooking, woodworking, making furniture and going fishing and hunting.
He is survived by his wife, Tootie Penner of St. James; son, Warner (Brenda) Beckmann of Lake Crystal, Minnesota; daughters, Yvonne Flohrs and Larry Flohrs of Trimont, Minnesota and Christine (Steve) Wolner of Duluth, Minnesota; 10 grandchildren, Jaime and Dan Bremseth, Becky Schmidtke and Jason, Cody Flohrs, Jacob Flohrs and Tiffany, Tiffany and Eric Wirz, Spencer and Kristine Wolner, Ashley and Nate Schwanangel, Elizabeth and Emily and Nolan Beckmann and eight great-grandchildren, Carter, Carson and Camryn Bremseth, Teya Schmidtke, Mason and Greta Wirz, Gracelyn Wolner and Baby Girl Wolner Due in November and Jameson Schwanangel and other relatives and friends.
In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his son, a sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and other relatives.
Jim’s family suggests memorial contributions be made to Hosanna Free Lutheran Church in St. James and Lung Cancer Society
