Visitation will be held Tuesday, Aug. 18 from 4-8 p.m. with a prayer service at 7:30 p.m. at St. Dionysius Catholic Church, Tyler.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, Aug. 19 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Dionysius Catholic Church.
Burial with military honors will be in St. Dionysius Cemetery.
Amandus Henry Thooft was born Jan. 14, 1925 to Ernest J. and Mary (Dobbelaere) Thooft on the family farm in Coon Creek Township, Lyon County, where he grew up until he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1946. He was baptized on Feb. 22, 1925 at St. Eloi Catholic Church in Ghent. He attended country school through grade eight and later earned his GED.
He enlisted in the Army on March 11, 1946 and served during WWII at the Sugamo Prison in Japan, being honorably discharged on April 28, 1947.
He married Leona Laleman on June 7, 1950 at St. Edwards Catholic Church in Minneota. They first lived on a farm north of Lynd, then moved to the family farm in the spring of 1955. When Amandus and Leona retired from farming in the 1990s, they moved to their present home in Tyler.
He continued to sell Archer Oil products to keep up with his visits with his farming and NFO friends.
He was a member of St. Dionysius Catholic Church in Tyler, where he served as an usher and was a member of the Knights of Columbus. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Farmers Organization (NFO) and was a LaRouche Democrat.
He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Leona; his fifteen children: Arthur (Jeannie), Audubon, Iowa; James (Mary), Lake Benton; Theresa (Bryon) Lee, Lafayette, Colo.; Leonard (Janet), Paxico, Kans.; Joseph (Kathleen), Ipswich, S.D.; Ellen (Martin) Popowski, Ivanhoe; Louise (Robert) Soucie, St. Ann, Ill.; Charles (Catherine), St. Paul; Maria Redmond, Arnold, Mo.; Paul (Karen), Marshall; Christopher (Lee), Tyler; Philip (Michelle), Bemidji; Matthew (Bernadette), Lucan; Monica Thooft, Marshall and Benjamin, Fort Stewart, Ga.; 47 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; three brothers: Etienne “E.R.” (Agnes), Tyler; Raymond (Jean), Lynd; and Ernest (Kate), Tyler; four sisters: Emma Delanghe, Marshall; Marian (Leon) van Den Broeke, Marshall; Mary (George) Lanoue, Milroy and Jeannette (Vincent) Lanoue, Tracy.
He was preceded in death by his brothers, Aime and infant Amandus and sisters, Louise Ruud and infant Theresa.
(Hartquist Funeral Home,
Utoft-Johansen Chapel,
Tyler)