Carl Leininger

Funeral Service for Carl H. Leininger, 95, of Wheaton, Minnesota will be held Monday, December 18, 2006 at 11:00 A.M. at the St. John Lutheran Church in Wheaton with Rev. Howard Jording officiating. Pallbearers will be Carls 10 Grandchildren Debera Krog, Vicki Ross, James Larsen, Dawn Reinke, Troy Herzog, Kevin Leininger, Jodi Johnson, Kyle Leininger, Brent Leininger & Brooke Leininger. Honorary Pallbearers will be All of Carls many card playing buddies & Monica Wilson . Visitation will be held Sunday, December17, from 4:00 P.M. until 7:00 P.M. with a 6:00 P.M. Prayer Service at the Ranney Funeral Home in Wheaton. Interment will be in St. John Lutheran Cemetery, rural Wheaton. Carl Henry Leininger was born April 5, 1911 in Boone, Iowa the youngest of five children of Henry Chris & Anna (Mueller) Leininger. Carl went to three years of school in Iowa. His favorite subject was arithmetic. When Carl was nine years old the entire family moved to Walls Township in Minnesota. They loaded everything on to a boxcar and it all went by train. After he completed the eighth grade he attended confirmation. This was held everyday just like a school session. He was confirmed on Palm Sunday. His parents moved to town in 1925. Carl started driving gravel truck when he was 15 years old. He drove truck without a license or any drivers instruction. Then the depression hit and his folks were about to loose the farm. They went back to the farm to try to save it in the fall of 1933. His dad became sick and died at the age of 52 and before he was able to pay back the land. Carl and his mother lived on the farm and did the work after his dad passed away. He was able to rent the land from the State of Minnesota and later got a FHA loan to buy back the land. He started farming at the age of 22 and most of it was done with horses. Carl had a JUIT car which he said was mostly made from wood. He started dating Evelyn Gauger. They went to dances at the BB Ranch (Berger Brothers) and also did a lot of roller skating. This was during prohibition and there was a lot of bootlegging going on. Carl would be gone for extended times checking on land in North Dakota or driving truck. They were married in June of 1937. His mother continued to live with them on the farm until that fall when she moved to a rented room in a house in Wheaton. Carl was happy to have had good crops and paid for his land by 1940. He purchased a new corn picker in 1942 and did a lot of custom work picking corn. One fall he picked for 11 different farmers. Before this, the corn was picked by hand. You hired hand corn pickers, housed them and fed them until they had picked your corn. They built a new house on the farm in 1949. It was put in the same place as the old house, so the entire family lived in the garage while the house was being built. In 1977, Carl and Evelyn built a new home in Wheaton. Carl was a member of many boards: he was clerk of the District 42 Country School until the school closed; he was a member of St. John Church Board in Wheaton for 9 years and also served on the building committee when the new church was built; he was a member of the Wheaton-Dumont Elevator Board for 12 years; and the FHA Board for 3 years. Carl and Evelyn would spend some winters in Florida with his sister Tillie and husband. Carl passed away in his home on Wednesday, December 13, 2006. Survivors include four children: Daryl (Judy) Leininger of Wheaton, Marlene (Loyal) Larsen of Underwood, Minnesota, Fay (Allen) Herzog of Shakopee, Minnesota, & Dave Leininger of Wheaton, one sister: Edna Slagel of Miles City, Montana, one sister-in-law: Evelyn Gauger of Fresno, California, 10 Grandchildren & 21 Great-Grandchildren. Carl was preceded in death by his wife, Evelyn, one brother, Paul Herman, and two sisters: Tillie and Emma.