Loren Otto Stier

LOREN O. STIER

April 23, 1932 – October 13, 2025 (age 93)

Loren Stier of Belle Plaine, Minnesota passed away at Kingsway Senior Living facility in Belle Plaine, on Monday morning, October 13, 2025.

Funeral Service will be at 11:00 a.m. Monday, October 20, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Belle Plaine.  Visitation will be Sunday, October 19, 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Kolden Funeral Home; and, at the church Monday morning beginning at 9:00 a.m.  A luncheon will be served at the church following the graveside service at Oakwood Cemetery.

Loren Otto Stier was born on April 23, 1932 in Belle Plaine Township, to Otto and Viola (Ahrens) Stier.  He was baptized a few weeks later at Trinity Lutheran Church, and was confirmed at St. John Lutheran Church in Belle Plaine on April 14, 1946.  He attended Belle Plaine schools until 1948, when he went to work for the Belle Plaine Block and Tile Company.  The company had just been purchased by his father Otto and Loren’s uncle Julius Stier.  He often said he still owed the old school six hours of detention.

At a dance in Chaska in June of 1949 he met Shirley Dorn of Spring Lake township near Prior Lake, Minnesota.  He asked her to dance to the ‘Blue Skirt Waltz.’  Four years later, they were married, on August 8, 1953 at Immanuel (Fish Lake) Lutheran Church, rural Prior Lake.

Loren and Shirley made their home in Belle Plaine where they raised their four children, Leon, John, Mary Ann, and Larry.  They also welcomed into the family Kathy and Mary Kelsey after the death of their mother Joanne in 1973.

In 1953 he bought a milk route, picking up milk cans at farms, and hauling them to the Belle Plaine Creamery.  He then became a pioneer in a brand-new method of handling milk.  He bought a bulk milk truck, sold bulk milk tanks to farmers, and then hauled their milk to the creamery.  The new idea did not catch on right away, and for an entire year he had just one customer.  Then, once it caught on, lifting the ten-gallon, one-hundred-pound milk cans soon became a thing of the past.  For three years in the early 1960’s, he worked for Dairy Equipment Company selling bulk milk truck tanks to milk haulers in Minnesota and Iowa.

In 1967 Loren and Shirley bought the school bus business from Loren’s father Otto, and from then on, they managed “Stier Bus and Truck Company.”  Loren had already been a bus driver since 1950, so he was the bus driver for generations of school children, and even down to the great-grandchildren of his first riders, becoming well known and loved by many in the community.  They sold the business in the early 1990’s, but Loren continued driving bus, and then a van, for many years.

In 2002 Shirley suffered a crippling stroke.  For the next seventeen years until her death in 2019, Loren was her caregiver.  He did a terrific job, showing us all what it means when we say in the marriage vows “in sickness and in health.”

Loren was an active member of Trinity Lutheran Church, serving for a time on the church council.  He was involved in many community activities.  He was a long-time member (and oldest living retiree) of the Belle Plaine Fire Department.  He was a charter member of the Community Volunteer Ambulance Service.  He was involved with the Belle Plaine Bar-B-Q Days celebration from the very beginning, for many years helping out in various roles.  One year, he and seven other Belle Plaine men delighted the crowd by performing a Hawaiian Hula dance (the only requirement was to have a hairy chest).  He was a long-time member of the LeSueur County Pioneer Power Association, and loved their annual shows and swap meets.

Loren’s hobby was collecting toy tractors and trucks, and for years, attended shows around the country, making life-long friends from all over.  He and Shirley also collected a variety of antiques, and they loved showing their collection, bringing back many memories for many people.

Most of all, he enjoyed spending time with his family.  He was born into a large extended family, with dozens of aunts and uncles and cousins.  Then, the immediate family of Loren and Shirley’s children grew to several dozen.  He was friendly and outgoing, always ready with a story or a joke or a word of wisdom.

Loren is survived by children Leon (Nancy), John (Mary), and Mary Ann Koonst (Jim), all of Belle Plaine, Larry (Julie) of Prior Lake, Mary (Tim) Koch of Burnsville, and Kathy (Steve) Huff of Leesburg, Virginia; by thirteen grandchildren and twenty-six great-grandchildren (might be 27 by now); and by brother-in-law Roland Jordahl of Pelican Rapids, Minnesota.  He is preceded in death by his parents, his wife Shirley in 2019, grandson-in-law Bryan Tupy in 2021, and his sister Leona.

A special thank you to the staff at Kingsway Senior Living, and to the St. Croix Hospice nurses and aides.  Your kind care of Loren over the last several months is much appreciated.