Bill passed away at his home North of Howard Lake on October 26, 2012
Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 AM Wednesday, October 31, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Waverly
Visitation will be from 5 to 8 PM on Tuesday at the church. and 1hr prior to services at church on Wednesday.
There will be a prayer service at 7:30 Tuesday evenig
Interment Church Cemetery
William Howard Stokes (Bill)
was born January 27, 1943 the 8th of 9 children born to Ray and Bernice
(Keller) Stokes at Chatfield, Minnesota. He grew up there on the family farm. He graduated
from High School at Chatfield.
On September 30,
1967 Bill married Shirley
Bow, at Rochester, Minnesota. The family
moved to Howard Lake in 1977. After
working at Lester’s Builders, Air tech in Cokato, and as a carpenter, he
returned to dairy farming and later raised pigs and steers. He was a farmer at heart and enjoyed watching
the crops and seasons change.
Growing up he spent a lot of
time fishing on the Mississippi
River near Wabasha, he also
enjoyed hunting in the fall and winter.
As a teenager he enjoyed roller skating with family and friends, as the
stories go they would spend several nights a week going to different towns that
had roller rinks and he became quite a “show off”. He received his first guitar as a Christmas
gift as a teenager and continued to “pick away” for his own enjoyment and later
for the grand kids.
He looked forward to going to
Duluth each fall with his daughter and family. Some times he would call his kids – just
because he wanted to hear their voice, even if it was only the answering machine.
He liked to ask the grand kids how their day went, what they had for lunch and
if they had any homework. He was accepting
of all and never had an unkind word to say about anybody During his illness he
enjoyed visits from friends and neighbors and especially quality time with his
kids and grand kids.
Bill passed away at home,
North of Howard Lake on Friday October 26, 2012. He had
reached the age of 69 years, 8 months and 29 days.
Survivors include: wife
Shirley of Howard Lake, sons; Kevin (Kelly) of Howard Lake and Dan of Howard Lake. Daughter Teri (Kevin) Vetsch of Cokato. Grand children Alexa and Colton Vetsch and
MacKenzie, Braden and Jace Stokes.
Brothers; Jerry (Betty) Stokes of Rochester and Mike (Carol) Stokes of Chatfield.
He was preceded in death by
his parents Raymond and Bernice, 4 brothers and 2 sisters.