Kenneth "Snooky" Latzke

Kenneth Dale “Snooky” Latzke, age 83 of Green Isle passed away peacefully April 24, 2019 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m. Monday, April 29th at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Green Isle. Visitation will be 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. Sunday at the Kolden Funeral Home in Arlington and will continue one hour prior to service time Monday at the church. Interment will be in the church cemetery.

Kenneth was born May 22, 1935 to Arnold “Swede” and Mildred (Stoldt ) Latzke. He was baptized in the faith in June 1935 and confirmed by Pastor Arndt in 1949 at St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Green Isle. Ken attended school in Green Isle and worked the family farm with his dad Swede. He married Arlene Wolters in May 1957. They had five children; Kathy, Curtis, Mike, Vicky and Steve.  He continued farming which was something he enjoyed very much.  He felt so much pride in being able to teach and pass on the knowledge of farming to his son Steve and then to his Grandson Justin.  He saw such a change in farming over the 75 years of, he joked with Steve and Justin saying that the tractors and combines drive all by themselves, all you have to do is sit and enjoy the ride.   He also owned and operated a trucking company. His trucks always looked the best on the road.  He enjoyed watching Nascar, he enjoyed going to Arlington raceway, he enjoyed baseball, he took pride in the town he lived in, supporting Green Isle Lions Club, the Green Isle Baseball team and various town events. He loved a good tractor pull, participating in many throughout the state and Iowa, receiving over 50 trophies. He enjoyed rebuilding antique tractors, he loved telling stories. He especially loved his family, always wanting to help, always wanting better for everyone. 

He is preceded in death by his parents; Arnold and Mildred, his sons; Curtis and Steve. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Arlene Latzke, son; Mike (Susan) Latzke, daughters; Kathy (Tom) Ott and Vicky Eischens (Tim Erickson), 9 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren, siblings; Lloyd Latzke, Jerry (Elda) Latzke, Faye (Don “Hoppe”) Mehlhop and Bob (Beda) Latzke and nieces and nephews. We want to thank everyone for your continued thoughts and prayers, thank you to Pastor Rapp for his prayers and visits, and Ken wanted to especially thank his sister Faye and her entire family for the many visits and prayers. He appreciated that more than you know and talked often what a great family he had.  We are so sad for our loss of such a great man, he will be missed by everyone that knew him.  He told us life will be different for a while without him here,  we said, “no dad, things will be different forever without you here, we will think of you every day, every spring when planting starts, every summer  during growing season as we drive by the fields , every fall during harvest, we will think of you always”.   We love you, we miss you! 

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