"All of the business
houses in Foley closed from 9:30 until 11:00 Tuesday morning, April 21, during
the funeral services for Anthony V. Stimler,
one of the oldest and most respected business men in the community. Mr. Stimler,
Tony to all who knew him, passed away at his home after a lingering illness of
several years. Death came quietly and peacefully at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, April 17.
"Mr. Stimler who was born near
Victoria in Carver county, Minnesota on April 16, 1872. He saw his sixty-fourth
birthday the day before he died. At the age of six years, he moved with his family to
Clear Lake where he lived for ten years. At that time he went to Minneapolis and
worked in a blacksmith shop until he was about twenty-one years of age. From Minneapolis
he moved to Duelm, where he owned and operated a blacksmith shop for about six years.
"On May 10, 1898, he was united in
marriage to Mary Kampa of Duelm, and in 1903, the Stimlers
came to Foley. For a few years Tony was in the blacksmithing business here and later on
he went in to the garage business. He built the garage now occupied by Odegood and Gilyard
in the spring of 1911. An item about his new building appears in the 'Twenty-Five Years
Ago' column of this issue of the Independent. The fact that he was in the automobile repair
business when there were only twenty cars in town proves him a real pioneer among our business men.
He must have been a man of keen foresight to see that the auto repair business was an up
and coming one. It is his kind of man who builds a town. We have many who come and
many who go, but the men like Tony who work and work through thick and thin are the men
who leave their foot-prints in the sands of time and who live long in the memories of their
fellow townsmen. But he knew how to play too. Not so many years ago, he built a cottage
on Lake Julia about fifteen miles from town. Each summer
he moved his family out there, and he stayed there much of the time himself after 1930, when
he sold his garage because of his failing health. He spent long summer days fishing. And
he liked hunting. On his last hunting trip about five or six years ago, he went up near Kellher
with a company of men, Walter Arneson of St. Cloud among them. He killed a big black
bear, which made him the envy of all the other hunters in town, and the idol of all the children.
Mr. Arneson and his wife were among those who attended his funeral.
"Services were conducted from St. John's church
at 9:30 Tuesday morning, with Rev. Theodore Wrobel officiating. Old friends of
Mr. Stimler were pall-bears: George O'Donnell, Bartley Klein, Frank Kotsmith,
John Bronder, Abe McCuire, and Tom Brennan. Interrment was made in the family
lot in the local cemetery. The large crowd present at the last rites testified to the number
of real friends he had made.
"He is survived by his wife
and the following children: Rupert,
Mrs. Al Hamer, and
Mrs. Frank Sauer of Foley,
Marie of St. Cloud, Joseph of
Minneapolis, and Leona, Ann,
and Delores, all at home. Another daughter,
Mrs. Emil Parent, died on February 6, 1926. He also
leaves twelve grandchildren and the following brothers and sisters: Mrs. John Dingman of Clear Lake;
Mrs. Ed Dingman of St. Cloud; Max of Dawson; Mrs. Archie McDonald of Minneapolis;
Paul of
Clear Lake; Dan of Minneapolis, and Mrs. George Benninghoff of Minneapolis.
"Out of town guests at the funeral and at the
home were: The George Benninghoff family; Mrs. Archie McDonald and family, Joe and
Frances Dingman, Mr. and Mrs. Al Dingman, Mr. and Mrs. Val Schaff, Miss Mary McDonald,
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Krang, John McManus, the Daniel Stimler family, Cal Callahan and daughter,
Mrs. Dean Curtis, all of Minneapolis; Mr. and Mrs. Joe Cooney, Charley Kyle,
Sherman Robinson, and son Vernon, all of St. Paul;
Joe Kampa of Claremont; Ernest Greenwood of Bismark, N.D.,
Mrs. Anna Abfalter of New Munich; Mrs. John Dingman and
family, Mr. and Mrs. George Stimler and family, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Stimler, Mr. and
Mrs. Jack Chmielowski, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Dingman,
Mr. and Mrs. Leo McDonald, Mr. Hans Larsen and son Henry Jake Arnold and
family, Mrs. Chas. Haaf, and Mrs. George Norden, all of Clear Lake; Mr. and Mrs. Ellers and
Mrs. Mary Hartell of Cold Springs; Mrs. Ralph Lansing, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Dingman,
Mr. and Mrs. Roy Mullany, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Dingman, Angeline and Hilda Schnettler,
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Winkelman, Mrs. Ambrose Lauer, Mrs. E. Kneiko, George Scherienberg
and daughter Cora (Mrs. Frank Loe), Mr. and Mrs. Bill Hollern, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Jones,
and Mrs. Lee Hunt, all of St. Cloud; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Blatner of Sauk Rapids,
Mr. and Mrs. Frank Schaff of Murdock, Minnesota; Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Abfalter of St. George;
Mr. and Mrs. Engelwald Jarmen of Glendoro, Mr. and Mrs. Emil Parent of Santiago, Mr. and
Mrs. Louis Kampa of St. George, and Mrs. Elizabeth, daughter
Louella, and son Nicholas of Richmond."
from The Independent
April 1936
