Funeral services for Mike Dassenko, age 93, will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 11,

at Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home. The Rev. James Van Arsdell will officiate. Interment will be in the Bath Seventh-Day Adventist Cemetery. Visitation is two hours prior to the services at Bayview.

Mike Dassenko was born in Kiev, Ukraine, Sept. 4, 1910, to Mary and Walter Dassenko and passed away Thursday, March 4, 2004, in St. Louis, Mo.

Mike came to the United States as a 2 year old in 1912 with his mother and older sister, Dorothy, to join their father who had come to the United States earlier to find work.

They eventually settled on a homestead in McKenzie County, N.D. Mike was one of 13 children born to this couple.

Mike moved to Iowa in 1935 looking for work after the depression years and he worked for a farmer in Riceville, Iowa. The family had a daughter who was planning to attend Oak Park Academy in Nevada, Iowa, that fall so they persuaded Mike to attend also.

It was there at the academy that Mike met Carolgene Hobein, a young girl from St. Louis, Mo. Both Mike and Carolgene worked at the Iowa Sanitarium and Hospital in Nevada, Iowa, until it burned to the ground.

Mike and Carolgene married in February of 1940. They lived most of their married life in Nevada and the Collins, Iowa, communities. Mike retired from the Iowa State Highway Commission in 1972 where he worked as a car and truck mechanic for many years.

Four daughters were born to this union: Sonja (Mrs. Clark Williamson) preceded Mike and Carolgene in death, Colleen (Mrs. Dale Loken) of Owatonna, Mary (Mrs. Carlos Schwantes) of St. Louis, Mo., and Lola Fults of Lenexa, Kan. Mike has eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Mike was baptized in the James River in Jamestown, N.D., during campmeeting and he has been a faithful member of the Albert Lea and Nevada Seventh-Day Adventist churches until his death.

He leaves to mourn his three daughters and their families and a host of relatives and friends.

Memorials may be sent to the Albert Lea Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 1400 Highway 69 South, Albert Lea, MN 56007.