Lawrence Blong, 80

Lawrence Blong, age 80 of Waucoma, died Wednesday, March 14, 2018, at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, Minn.A Mass of Christian Burial was held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 17, 2018, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Waucoma with Rev. Kyle Digmann celebrating the Mass.Interment was held at St. Rose Cemetery, rural Waucoma with Don Blong, Charles Franzen, Gerry Dietrich, Michael Dietrich, David Dietrich, and Mark Dietrich serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers were Florian Langreck, Francis Scallon, Wayne Schmitt, Andy Meyer, Kenny Schaufenbuel and John Bergeson.Friends greeted the family from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday March 16, 2018, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Waucoma where there was a Rosary and a Scripture Service. Visitation continued an hour prior to the Mass at the Church on Saturday.Lawrence Joseph Blong was born April 7, 1937, in rural Waucoma, the son of Paul and Margaret (Balk) Blong.He attended school through the eighth grade at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Waucoma.Lawrence farmed with his dad for a couple of years and then began farming with his uncle Frank in 1958. Lawrence worked next to his uncle for 20 years until his death.Lawrence continued to farm and milk cows until he sold his dairy herd in 1988. He continued to farm until his retirement.Lawrence had a lifelong passion for farming spending nearly 60 years of his life as a farmer. He enjoyed planting and harvesting corn and soybeans along with raising cattle and milking cows. He had many types of animals on the farm like sheep, ducks, geese, bandies, and chickens.Throughout his life he had many dogs that were his companion named Skippy, Jack, Kleever, Rover, Kippy, and he was a dog uncle to Brownie, Barbie, and Buster.He moved to the Aase Haugen Nursing Home in 2010. There he enjoyed visiting with guests, and would look forward to his brother Raymond stopping by to fill up his bird feeders.He enjoyed watching television and had several shows he enjoyed which included “The Price is Right,” “Deal or No Deal,” westerns and The Game Show Network. Lawrence liked playing cards, Bingo, reading farm magazines and collecting miniature John Deere Tractors.Lawrence is survived by two brothers, Raymond (Charlotte) Blong of Waucoma, and Robert (Lilly) Blong of Manchester;  and one sister, Helen (Bernard) Franzen of St. Lucas; along with several nieces and nephews.He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Albert Blong; sister, Theresa Dietrich; brother-in-law, Paul Dietrich; and sister-in-law, Barbara Blong.