Ronald John Hooyman, age 85, of Shawano, passed away peacefully on Saturday, February 4, 2017 surrounded by his loving family. He was born in Appleton on August 6, 1931 to the late Aloysius and Alice (Garrity) Hooyman. In 1949 at the age of 17, Ron joined the Navy, serving our country as a corpsman during the Korean War. He received two Purple Hearts and was honorably discharged in April of 1953. On June 14, 1951, Ron was united in marriage to Audrey Ann Becker in Appleton. He worked as an electrician at American Can for many years. He is a member of Divine Savior Lutheran Church and a past member of the Hortonville American Legion Post #55. He enjoyed golfing and was a member of the board that created the Grand View Golf Course in Hortonville. Ron loved the outdoors and enjoyed hunting, fishing, and feeding the deer. He was a great man who loved a good joke and the occasional Manhattan.
Ronald is survived by: his loving wife, Audrey; their four children, Rhonda (Gary Buntrock) VanHandel of Pella, Cindy (Pete) Fannin of Caroline, Becky (John) Gruetzmacher of Clintonville and John (Deb) Hooyman of Fremont; 10 grandchildren, Scot (Char) VanHandel, Jamie (Kelby) Kriewaldt, Joe (Lisa) VanHandel, Brian (Torre) Ziegler, Andrew (Kristin) Ziegler, Laura (Damian) Maschka, Ann (Dan) Bartelt, Amanda Fischer, Joshua (Cory-Lei) Fischer and Shane (Jessica) Hooyman; four step-grandchildren, Tricia Fannin, Melissa (Brent Hanifl) Fannin, Luke (Amber) Fannin and Paul (Fiancée, Allison) Fannin; 22 great-grandchildren; two sisters, Helen Austreng of Weyauwega and Mary Lou (Gene) Hegner of Hortonville; one brother-in-law, Len (Loretta) Bellile; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
He was preceded in death by: his parents; two brothers, Robert Hooyman and James Hooyman; one sister, Gladys Ebben; his mother and father in-law, Winona and Howard Becker; three brothers-in-law, Robert Ebben, Lyle Austreng and Ronald Becker; and three sisters-in-law, Mary Bellile, Jeanette Becker, and Birdie Hooyman.
Memorial services for Ron will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, February 11, 2017 at Divine Savior Lutheran Church in Shawano with Rev. Paul Kuehn officiating. Following the service, Military Honors will be conducted by the Shawano American Legion Post #117. Inurnment will be in Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Greenville in the spring. Visitation will be held at the church on Saturday from 9:30 am until the time of the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be forwarded to the Divine Savior Endowment Fund, Divine Savior food pantry or the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
Ron's family would like to extend a special thank you to the doctors and medical staff at the ThedaCare Medical Center in Shawano for the wonderful care given to Ron during his time there.
