NEAL L. TENHULZEN

Neal L. Tenhulzen, 70, passed away after a brief illness at his home in Brownsville, Texas, on Saturday, March 3, 2018. No services are planned and his cremains will be interred at the Rock Island National Cemetery in Rock Island, Illinois. Funeraria Del Angel is taking care of the arrangements.

Neal was born July 12, 1947, in Denison, Iowa, the first child of Elizabeth (Olson) and Eugene W. Tenhulzen. He graduated from Denison Community High School in 1965 and enlisted in the Air Force shortly afterwards. He was trained as an electronics specialist and was assigned to an Air Force Radar Station in Waverly, Iowa. He was married to Eileen Hulsebus from Denison, Iowa, in 1966 and they made their home in Waterloo, Iowa, until his military service was completed. He and his wife moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1968 and they both worked at Collins Radio for a short while before Neal was hired as engineer at KKJO Radio Station in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Neal and Eileen were divorced in 1974 and for the next 35 years, Neal moved from one dream job to another with major electronics companies, increasing his skill and expertise in microcircuitry and electronics product testing. He was one of the earliest electronic engineers to design and develop digital watches. A job with Motorola originally brought him to Brownsville in 1994 and he retired in 2009 from Spellman High Voltage whose plant was in Matamoros, Mexico. He was a resident at Winter Haven Resort community in Brownsville and was an accomplished poker player.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Edward Tenhulzen. He is survived by his brother, Kirby Tenhulzen, of Iowa City, Iowa, his sisters, Margery Link, Colorado Springs, and Jean Tenhulzen, Knoxville, Tennessee, and beloved nephews and nieces.