Clarence E. Gocken
ROYALTON -- Clarence E. Gocken, 86, Royalton, died Sunday, Feb. 9, 2003, at St. Cloud Hospital.
He was born Oct. 14, 1916, in Garrison, Neb., to Alrich and Anna Marie (Remmers) Gocken. He married Irene "Marguerite" Letcher on Aug. 28, 1940, in Virgil, S.D. The couple farmed near Alexandria, S.D., and near Wakonda, S.D., until purchasing a farm northeast of Royalton in December 1956. He began working for Crestliner Boats in Little Falls in 1960. In 1977, they moved to Little Falls and he retired from Crestliner in 1978. The couple spent their summers in Little Falls and wintered in Phoenix until 1987, when they moved there. They returned to Royalton in 1998. He attended the First Baptist Church in Little Falls.
Survivors include his wife; four sons, Ronald Gocken, Keats, Kan., Gerald Gocken, Cascade, Idaho, Richard Gocken, Brainerd, and Charlie Gocken, Royalton; two daughters, Loretta Jensen, Oakdale, and Margie Majaski, Royalton; 15 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; and three brothers, Alvin Gocken, Harlingen, Texas, Dale Gocken, Hurley, S.D., and Verne Gocken, Wamego, Kan.
Two sisters, Ina Boecker and Frieda Carper; and two infant grandchildren, died earlier.
Services will be 1 p.m. Friday at the First Baptist Church in Little Falls with the Rev. Steven J. Priola and the Rev. V. Richard Jensen officiating. Burial will be in the Riverside Cemetery in Royalton.
Friends may call from 4-8 p.m. Thursday at the Shelley Funeral Chapel in Little Falls and from noon until the time of services Friday at the church.