Carroll J. Fransen, 84, of Waukon, IA, died Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, MN. Funeral services will be held Saturday, December 1st at 10:30 am at St. John's Lutheran Church in Waukon, with Rev. Lynn G. Groe officiating. Burial will be in Lincoln Cemetery, Whitehall, WI. Friends may call from 3:00 to 7:00 pm Friday at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon.
Carroll Jerome Fransen was born on May 25, 1923 in La Crosse, WI. He was the son of Henry John and Hannah Amelia (Steffenson) Fransen. He grew up in Whitehall, WI, where he was baptized and confirmed at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church and graduated from high school in 1941. Carroll trained in the Army Air Corps Cadet Program in Grand Forks, ND from 1941 until 1943. He served in the Army Air Corps from 1943 until 1946 where he attained the rank of sergeant. Most of his duty was in munitions loading on the west coast and in Alaska. After his discharge, he married Jane Ione Sorum on June 1, 1946 at the Lutheran Church in Rushford, MN. His working career started at the Gambles store in Winona, MN. In 1952 he moved to Waukon worked at the Gambles store there. After a number of years he began working as a maintenance engineer at the Good Samaritan Center and Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon. During his time at there, he served a term as president of the Iowa Hospital Engineers Association. Later, he spent several yeas as the head of maintenance for the DeSoto, WI School District before retiring in 1989. For a while after that he drove and transferred cars for Torkelson Motors in Waukon.
Carroll was a member of the American Legion and St. John's Lutheran Church. Fishing and building stock cars with his son were a couple of his hobbies, and he loved to fly whenever he got the chance. He and Jane enjoyed camping in their motor home and he spent a year as president of the State of Iowa Winni Hawks. For the past 15 years, Carroll and Jane have wintered in Mission, TX, where they were very active in retirement groups and activities at Fiesta Village. He was a particular fan of shuffleboard, participating in and winning a number of tournaments in the area.
Survivors include his wife Jane of Waukon; 3 children, Denny (Kay) Fransen of Washington, IL, Kay (Gary) Baetje of Baraboo, WI, and Scott (Lois) Fransen of Hiawatha, IA; 7 grandchildren, Kristie, Jim, Sundee, Bria, Kyle, Erica and Matt; and 2 great-grandchildren, Lauren and Ben. He is preceded in death by his parents; a brother Howard; and 3 half-sisters, Gladys Fransen, Florence Mickelson and Alice Leverson.