The funeral service for Lydia Lenzen, 95, of Belle Plaine, formerly of Tracy, will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 14, 2017, at the Tracy Lutheran Church in Tracy. Visitation will be Friday from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. at the Life Remembrance Center of Tracy (444 Craig Ave.) Visitation will continue from 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Tracy Lutheran Church. Interment will follow the service at the Tracy City Cemetery.
On Friday, January 6, 2017, Lydia Lenzen, 95, went home to be with the Lord. She was a resident in the memory care unit at Kingsway Retirement Living since May 2016. Lydia Louise was born on May 8, 1921 in Springfield, MN. She grew up in Sanborn, MN, and attended school in Springfield, MN. On April 30, 1942 she married Jerome (Jerry) Lenzen. They lived in South Saint Paul, MN for 7 years, until they moved to Tracy, MN in 1949.
Lydia gave birth to five sons. Her first, James Richard, died in infancy. Four sons, Richard (Edna), Donald (Sue), Daniel (Diane), and Thomas (Patty), all graduated from Tracy Pubic Schools, were married, and provided Lydia with 10 grandchildren, and 13 great grandchildren, who fondly referred to her as “Cookie Grandma” because of her famous chocolate chip cookies. Because of Lydia’s generosity and kindness, she also had many friends she considered her “extended” family.
Her life’s joy came from serving others. Lydia served on the Tracy Board of Education, she was active in the Presbyterian Church as a Sunday school teacher, youth director, choir member, and various church boards. She was a strong supporter of High School sports and music activities. She hosted Gunther (Patrick) Weber, a foreign exchange student from Germany, in her home in 1963-64.
Lydia loved to sew. She ran a sewing business in her home, making drapes, doing alterations, and altering band uniforms for the Tracy band for fifty years.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Lydia Louise Essig, her father Walter Essig, her son Jimmy, husband Jerry, brother Alvin Essig, sister Alvera Becker, and various aunts and uncles and her grandparents.
Arrangements with Life Remembrance Center of Tracy. www.lrcmn.com