Eugene Olmscheid

Eugene H. "Gene" Olmscheid, age 93 of Melrose, died Saturday, August 24, 2013 at the CentraCare Nursing Home in Melrose, Minnesota.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, August 28 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Melrose with Rev. Marvin Enneking officiating and Rev. Ken Thielman concelebrating. Interment will be in parish cemetery. Military Honors provided by the Melrose Veterans Honor Guard.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday and from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Patton-Schad Funeral Home in Melrose. Parish prayers will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday evening at the funeral home.

Eugene Henry Olmscheid was born July 29, 1920 in St. Martin, Minnesota to Frank and Elizabeth (Wulfekuhle) Olmscheid. He worked on the farm and drove truck delivering livestock to the St. Paul stock yards during the 1930s.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he and five other young men from Stearns County attended aircraft school in Minneapolis before getting into a 1937 Ford and driving to San Diego, California. They were employed by Consolidated Aircraft building the B-24 "Liberator" used in WWII.

Gene entered the war in 1944 and was assigned to an amphibious unit of the Navy. He was a motor mechanic aboard one of the landing crafts from the USS Burleigh AP-95 transporting troops ashore during the battles of Saipan, Guam and Okinawa. As the war ended, his ship made numerous voyages to the various islands bringing troops home during operation "Magic Carpet".

After the war, Gene returned to Minnesota and married Ann Walz on June 10, 1946. They were married for 58 years before Ann's death in 2005.

He was employed by Kraft Foods, the Melrose Hospital and Stearns Electric retiring from there in 1985. Traveling and fishing, especially ice fishing, were Gene's favorite hobbies, but most of all he loved visiting friends and family.

Gene was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Melrose and a life member of the Schanhaar-Otte VFW Post 7050.

Survivors include his sons, Dale (Yvonne) Olmscheid of Clearwater and Duane (Gail) Olmscheid of Melrose; eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; son-in-law, Dick Henry of Avon; brothers and sisters, Julian (Rosetta) Olmscheid of San Diego, California, Stanley (Marion) Olmscheid of St. Martin, Hilary (Mildred) Olmscheid of Milwaukee, Oregon, Bernadine Dingmann of Richmond, Adeline (Howard) Graf of San Diego, California, and Sister Lorraine Olmscheid, O.S.F. of St. Cloud; sisters-in-law and brother-in-law, Peggy Herges, Susan Olmscheid, Alverna McLanahan, and Werner Fuchs; and special friend, Vera Ritter.

He was preceded in death by: his wife, Ann Olmscheid on March 12, 2005; parents; daughter, Marlene Henry; brothers and sister, Claude Olmscheid, Roman Olmscheid, and MaryAnn Fuchs; and brother-in-law, Jerome Dingmann.

Gene was proud of the city of Melrose and loved its citizens. He will be missed by many.

Serving as casket bearers will be Dale Olmscheid, Duane Olmscheid, Rick Olmscheid, Nathan Olmscheid, Mike Garding and Rob Zollar. Cross bearer will be Leah Olmscheid and scripture bearer will be Heather Olmscheid. Gift bearers will be Jennifer Garding and Gena Zollar.