Elaine E. Zenk
FAIRMONT - Services for Elaine E. Zenk, 84, of Fairmont, will be 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, at Grace Lutheran Church in Fairmont. Interment will be in the Welcome City Cemetery in Welcome.
Elaine passed away on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 12, 2009, at Lakeview Methodist Health Care Center in Fairmont. Visitation will be 4-6 p.m. today, Nov. 14, at Lakeview Funeral Home in Fairmont, and one hour prior to the service at the church.
Elaine Emma (Saxen) Zenk was born Nov. 13, 1925, in Welcome, Minn., the daughter of Knute and Meta (Borchardt) Saxen. Elaine graduated from Welcome High School in 1943.
After graduation, she worked at Fairmont Railway Motors where she met Ervin Zenk. They were married on May 13, 1945, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Welcome. After moving to Welcome in 1948, Elaine had several jobs, including head cook at the Welcome School, Miller's Fashions in Fairmont and eventually started her own custom drapery business. In 1982, they moved back to Fairmont and retired in 1986. They enjoyed wintering in Mesa, Ariz., for many years.
Elaine was very active at Trinity Lutheran Church and later Grace Lutheran Church. She was an avid quilter, excellent seamstress, bridge player and a very good golfer. She was a member of Fox Lake Golf Club and later Interlaken Golf Club. She also was a member of many service organizations, including PEO and Fairmont Hospital Auxiliary.
Ervin and Elaine moved to the Lakeview Campus in 2005. The couple shared nearly 61 years of marriage before Ervin passed away in April of 2006. Elaine continued to live at the Lakeview Campus, where she passed away on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009. The family would like to thank the staff of the Lakeview Campus for the excellent care they provided Ervin and Elaine over the years.
She is survived by four daughters, Linda Bentley and her husband, Kipp, of Denver, Colo., Suzanne Miller and her husband, Tom, of South Bend, Ind., Elizabeth Zenk and her husband, Jim Trebatoski, of Iola, Wis., and Jane Kollofski and her husband, Kevin, of Fairmont; three grandchildren, Lee Emma Running and her husband, Jeremy Chen, of Grinnell, IA, Oliver Kollofski of Fairmont, and Claire Bentley of Denver, Colo.; sister, Ardella Wohlhuter of Welcome; brother, Donald Saxen and his wife, Janet, of Welcome; and many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
In addition to Ervin and her parents, Elaine was preceded in death by one daughter, Joan Zenk; two brothers, Darvin and Ronald Saxen; brother and sister-in-law, Lester and Leola Zenk; and brother-in-law, Ray Wohlhuter.
