Wilbert T. Hedtke

Wilbert T. Hedtke, age 95, died on Sunday, May 9, 2021 at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar. A funeral service will be held on Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 2:00 PM at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Litchfield. Visitation will be one hour prior to the services at the church on Thursday. Interment will be held at the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery at 11:00 AM on Friday. Wilbert Theodore Hedtke was born on January 7, 1926 to Theodore and Eleanora (Rolf) Hedtke. Wilbert grew up on the family farm north of Grove City. He attended District 57 and St John Lutheran School and one year of high school in Grove City. He went into the Army Signal Corp on January 24, 1945 and was Honorably Discharged in December 1946. He worked in Minneapolis and Glencoe before returning to the farm. On September 7, 1952, he was united in marriage to Clarris A Fuglem. They had a loving marriage of 68 years. They resided and farmed north of Grove City until 1976. After he retired from farming, he was a semi-truck driver for Waggoners Trucking out of Billings, Montana for ten years. He also worked at Towmaster and Bobcat in his retirement years. Wilbert is survived by his wife, Clarris, and children; Renee Howell (Brad), Byron Hedtke (Laureen), Rhonda Martin, Connie Schmit (Jim), Kim Makal, 11 Grandchildren; Bradford Howell (Cheri), Callie Howell (Alex), Amanda Hedtke, Rachel Hedtke, Katy Purcell (Jack), Hannah Hedtke, Kristi Athmann (Dan), Keith Martin (Shaun), Kelly Schmit, Dana Schmit (Christopher), Brittany Anderson (Michael), and numerous great grandchildren. He is also survived by brother, Clifford and sisters, Ellen Roos & Glenna Roos. He was preceded in death by his parents, sister Lorna Krol and brother Theodore Hedtke. The Funeral will be live streamed on the Johnson Hagglund website.