Duane (Doc) Stenseth, 82, Albert Lea

Published 9:18 am Friday, October 22, 2010

Funeral services for Duane (Doc) Stenseth will be held 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Bonnerup Funeral Chapel, Albert Lea. The Rev. Kent Otterman will officiate. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today at Bonnerup Funeral Service. Interment will be at Hillcrest Cemetery at a later date. Military honors will be accorded by Albert Lea Veteran’s Organizations.

Duane Stenseth

Duane was born on Dec. 6, 1927, in Freeman Township to Emil J. and Olga (Amundson) Stenseth. He was baptized and confirmed at Round Prairie Lutheran Church. Duane died Oct. 20, 2010, at the Good Samaritan Center where he had been a resident since March 2010. He was 82 years old. Except for the time he spent in the Army, Duane lived his entire life in the Albert Lea area. He attended country school and also attended Albert Lea High School. He served in the U.S. Army in 1946 and 1947.

Duane worked in heating and sheet metal work his entire working years, at Andy’s Sheet Metal and Heating for many years until the business was sold in 1971. He started his own business, Hilltop Heating and Sheet Metal in 1972, and operated that until his retirement in 1992.

On July 8, 1961, Duane and Virginia Sullivan were married at St. Theodore Catholic Church Rectory. He enjoyed fishing, hunting and gardening. For many years he and a brother-in-law had a Sunday ritual of playing cribbage. He was a member of the Eagles for 63 years.

Duane is survived by his wife; daughter, Valerie and her husband, Jeremy Richter, of Libertyville, Ill.; son, Eric and his wife, Tracy Stenseth, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; grandsons: Logan Stenseth, Ethan and Casey Richter; granddaughter, Kendall Stenseth; sister, Margaret and husband, Harris Johnson, of Newman Grove, Neb.; brother-in-law, John Sullivan, of Albert Lea; sisters-in-law: Maxine and husband, Arthur Pricco, of Pleasant Hill, Calif., Olga Schmitt and Shirley Stenseth both of Albert Lea; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his mother and father; mother-in-law and father-in-law, Louis and Gertrude Sullivan; sister: Stella Skogheim Madson; brothers: Ervin, Orville, George, James and Phillip; sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law: Helen and Arnold Moen, Eugene and Dorothy Sullivan, Lois and Glenn Zeimer and sister-in-law Beverly Stenseth; brothers-in-law: Robert Sullivan, Paul Sullivan and Laverne Schmitt.