Ervin F Knoop

Ervin F. Knoop, 77, of Neillsville, WI died on Tuesday, October 15, 2013 at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield, WI.Ervin F. Knoop, was born in the township of Pine Valley, Neillsville, WI, on December 10, 1935 the son of Frank and Alice (Korth) Knoop. He graduated from Neillsville High School in 1953. Ervin lived on the home farm until his marriage on October 5, 1957 to Arlys Smith. Together they were blessed with 6 children. Ervin worked 39 years with Nelson Industries of Neillsville, serving in many different areas. He retired in 1997. Ervin also worked the homestead farm that he took over in 1965. As the children grew up and moved away from home he started cutting back on farm duties. He always said it was a good place to raise a family. After his retirement, Ervin had his dreams of where he wanted to travel, mainly Alaska. In 1998, his dream came true. They travelled all of Alaska for a month. It was his dream fulfilled. A few years later they went to Hawaii for 2 weeks which was a trip Arlys always wanted to go on. Since then, they have taken many trips together until the last year or two and then it was shorter weekend trips.Ervin endured a lot of health problems the last few years and took them on like a soldier. He made the best of all situations, no matter how tough it was. He enjoyed playing sheepshead with the "guys" and his family. He loved playing cribbage and was always ready to take on anybody, especially his grandchildren.He is survived by his loving wife of 56 years, Arlys, six children, Shelby White of Marshfield, Carol (Mike) Fox of Janesville, Janet (Pete) Schmidt of Neillsville, twins: Dawn (Ron) Bohman of Marshfield, David (Peggy) Knoop of Merrill and Judith (Kevin) Zickert of Neillsville who currently live on the Knoop homesteaded farm of 4 generations. Ervin is also survived by 14 loving grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren, sisters, Florence (Bob) Spiegel of Granton, Lois (Gale) Minsaas of Casper, WY, Jean (Kenny) Goetz of Neillsville, brothers; Donald Knoop of Polo, MO and Robert (Rose) Knoop of Neillsville. He is further survived by many sister and brother-in-laws and nieces and nephews.Ervin was preceded in death by his parents, one sister, Adeline Schoenherr and several brother and sisters-in law.Funeral services for Ervin will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, October 19, 2013 at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Neillsville. Pastor Timothy Biebert will officiate. Music will be provided by Judy Trunkel, organist and Dan and Bunny Dux, vocalists. Visitation will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday, October 18, 2013 at the Gesche Funeral Home in Neillsville and again Saturday morning at the church from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Interment will be in the North Pine Valley Cemetery.Serving as casket bearers will be Jason Garbisch, Josh Bohman, Elliot Sikora, Derek Sikora, Eric bohman, Jacob Fox, Nathan Schmidt and Brandon Knoop.Funeral Home:Gesche Funeral Home4 South Grand AvenueNeillsville, WIUS 54456