Clarence Ralph Kirchhoff

1930 - 2025

Clarence Ralph Kirchhoff

March 7, 1930 - June 10, 2025

Clarence Ralph Kirchhoff, age 95, of Rockwell, Iowa, passed away peacefully under the care of St. Croix Hospice on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at the Rockwell Community Nursing Home. Funeral arrangements are with Fullerton Funeral Home.

A visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 13, 2025, at St. Peter Lutheran Church, 502 2nd St. S, Rockwell. A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at the church with Pastor Jane Harris officiating. Following the service, Clarence will be laid to rest at the Rockwell Cemetery with military honors led by the Mason City Veterans Honor Guard.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Rockwell Community Nursing Home or St. Peter Lutheran Church.

Clarence was born on March 7, 1930, in rural Rockwell, Iowa, the second youngest of seven children to parents, Conrad and Kate (Champen) Kirchhoff. He attended Rockwell-Sheffield country school through the eighth grade then later enlisted into the United States Army and served as a staff sergeant from 1948 to 1952, until he was honorably discharged. On December 20, 1958, Clarence was united in marriage to Arlene (Esser) Kirchhoff in Albert Lea, Minn. The couple made their home in Rockwell and together raised nine children.

Clarence worked for 40 years for Lehigh Portland Cement in Mason City until retirement in 1992. He was a member of St. Peter Lutheran Church and the Rockwell American Legion. In his free time, he enjoyed playing cards and Bingo. While living at the nursing home, he collected his Bingo prizes which were small stuffed animals and made sure to divide them evenly among the grandchildren. He loved spending time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In his younger years, he liked vegetable gardening and traveling in the wintertime with Arlene to Donna, Texas. He was an avid Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Twins fan. Clarence was quite the jokester and storyteller, he will be lovingly remembered by his family and friends.

Those left to cherish his memory include his children: Andra and her husband, Clete Moser, Patty Hasson, John and his wife, Stephanie Kirchhoff all of Cedar Rapids, Kimberly and her husband, Bob Pelky of Wisconsin, Julie and her husband, Scott Sampson of Midwest City, Okla., Jayme Kirchhoff of Mason City, Mark and his wife, Vickki of Clear Lake; sister, Chris Foell; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

He was reunited in heaven with his wife, Arlene, who passed in 2019; sons, Doug Kirchhoff and Steven Mathus; parents, Conrad and Kate Kirchhoff; and siblings: Gretchen Moelle, John Kirchhoff, Jenny Hendersen, Anna Kirchhoff and Gertrude Schomburg.