Wilfred "Wif" Finken

Wilfred F. “Wif” Finken, age 87 of Melrose, passed away on Sunday, January 25, 2026 surrounded by his family at the St. Cloud Hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:30 a.m. Friday, January 30 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Melrose with Rev. Daniel Walz officiating. Interment will be in the parish cemetery with military honors by the Melrose Veterans Honor Guard.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday and from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. Friday at the church. Melrose Veterans Honor Guard will pray at 6:15 p.m. followed by a rosary by the Melrose Fire Department at 6:30 p.m. Thursday evening at the church. The Mass will be livestreamed and the link can be found at: oneinfaith.org.

Wilfred Fred Finken was born March 16, 1938 in St. Rosa, Minnesota to Robert and Loretta (Stueve) Finken. He enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1955 in Greenville, Mississippi. After serving his country, he began working at Bellanca Aircraft in Alexandria, Minnesota. In 1961, Wif started as an independent in the Water Treatment industry. In 1977, he franchised with WaterCare Corporation in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. It was then he started his own and began Wif Finken’s WaterCare in Melrose where he served as owner operator until his son, Tom took over the business and continues to run the business today.

On September 7, 1959, he was united in marriage to Alice Dufner of St. Rosa. With this union came six children and raised their family in Melrose Minnesota. After 39 years of marriage, Alice passed away on June 29, 1998.

On August 4, 2000, Wif married Bernette Petermeier in Melrose Minnesota. With this union came a blended family and Wif welcomed four more sons into his family. They were married twenty-five years until Wif’s passing.

Wif was a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church where he served as an usher, he was the last charter member of the Freeport Lions, he received the Melvin Jones Award from the Melrose Lions, a member of the Melrose Fire Department for 20 years, member of the Melrose American Legion where he served on the honor guard, and was Grand Marshall in the Melrose parade.

Survivors include his wife, Bernette Finken of Melrose; children, Sharon (Tim) Blaskowski of Melrose, Chad (Mary) Finken of Minot, North Dakota, Julie Finken Heiber (Greg Ramler) of Albany, Tom Finken of St. Cloud, Kyle (Bernadette) Finken of Apple Valley, and Joe (Dana) Finken of Melrose; Bernette’s children, Brian (Amy) Petermeier of Hudson, Wisconsin, Michael Petermeier of St. Louis Park, Wayne (Kris) Petermeier of Browerville, and Keith (Rachel) Petermeier of Marshall; 21 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren; and sisters, Dorothy Austing of Freeport and Donna Bueckers of St. Rosa.

Wif was preceded in death by his first wife, Alice Finken on June 29, 1998; Bernette’s husband, Gene Petermeier on November 28,1994; parents; grandson, Aaron Heiber; brother, LeRoy Finken; sister, Mary Ann Engelmeyer; brothers-in-law, Richard Austing, Eugene Bueckers, and Roger Engelmeyer, and sister-in-law, Grace Finken.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Melrose Lions.