George Meissner
George Willie Evan Meissner died September 21, 2016, in Fridley, Minnesota, at age of 84 years.
His funeral service was held on September 26, 2016 at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fridley, with the Rev. John Niewald officiating.
George was born March 10, 1932, in Pierson, Iowa. George grew up in the small town of Pierson, where he played basketball and began hunting, fishing, and canoeing. He enjoyed working on his uncle’s farms.
He attended Wartburg College and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State in 1954. He married Dee Grosch the day after his college graduation in Albert City, Iowa — often joking that he “only got to be a bachelor for 24 hours!”
The newlyweds moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where George worked for Cutler-Hammer for 3 years. In 1957, George and Dee moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he worked as an engineer at Honeywell.
They built a home in Fridley in 1959 and became dedicated members of Redeemer Lutheran Church. George served Redeemer in many ways over the next 50 years. He became the first lay person to serve as congregational president. He was also instrumental in starting a “Christian Homebuilders” group. He also sang bass in the choir and led many committees.
George and Dee hosted an undershepherding group since 1979. George worked at Litton and Whitehall Electronics before he retired from Unisys Corp. He worked with many friends and relatives to build a family lake home on Goose Lake, which was his pride and joy.
George and Dee’s home was always open to travelers, young people who needed a place to gather or stay, and friends who wanted to stop in to share jokes or popcorn.
George enjoyed travel and adventure. He took his four kids and his wife camping all across the United States. After retirement, he and Dee visited all 50 states and many foreign countries.
More recently, George had enjoyed tapping maple trees, watching seasonal changes of birds and flowers, and having routines like his afternoon cheese curds and Pepsi snack break.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Dee (Grosch) Meissner; his sister, Mary (Scott) Creek; children Dave (Deb) Meissner, Darcie (Dave) Kost, Deb (Jim) DeVries, and Denise (Jon) Lundberg; grandchildren Steven & Aaron Meissner; Andy (Betsy) Kost; Jenna (Ben) Funkhouser; Laura Kost; Sam, Julia, and Klara DeVries; and Justin, Alecia, and Sara Lundberg; and special nieces Greta Grosch and Heidi (Morten) Havon.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Bill Meissner and Therese Meissner, and his brother, Arthur Meissner.
