June 30, 1920 - Jan. 29, 2008
LITCHFIELD -- Dean Earl Knoll, 87, of Litchfield died Tuesday at the Meeker County Memorial Hospital.
The service will be at 11:30 a.m. today at Zion Lutheran Church in Litchfield. Burial will be at the Lake Ripley Cemetery. Military Honors will be provided by the Admiral Benson VFW Post 2818 and Nelsan-Horton American Legion Post 104 of Litchfield.
Visitation will be two hours prior to the service Friday at the church.
He was born to Percy and Frances (Maynard) Knoll on June 30, 1920, in Correll. He graduated from Correll High School in 1938.
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He married Evelyn Pring on May 2, 1943, in Morris. He served in the army air force in the South Pacific during World War II and was discharged in 1945.
He graduated in 1946 from Mankato State Teachers College with a bachelor of science degree in education. He taught in Walnut Grove, Jackson, and Lamberton. They moved to Litchfield, where he taught in the Litchfield school system for 22 years. In 1971, he received a master's degree from Mankato State College in secondary administration.
He was a life member of the Litchfield Education Association, the Minnesota Education Association, the National Education Association and the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association. He was a member of the American Legion Post 104 and a sixty-year member of the VFW Post 2818. He coached and officiated baseball, basketball, and football. He also received the Minneapolis Star and Tribune Award for 25 years of outstanding coaching service in high school athletics.
He is survived by his wife; children: Gary (and Debbie) Knoll of Brownsville and Nancy (and Mike) Leifker of Menasha, Wis.; two grandchildren; a brother: Merle (and Lucille) Knoll of Osakis; two sisters: Peg (and Harold) Welsh of Pensacola, Fla. and Patricia (and Gerald) O'Connor of Spicer.
He was preceded in death by his twin brother and a sister.
