Evan Henry Frutiger

Memorial Mass for Evan Frutiger of Warroad, MN will be held on Saturday, March 24, 2018 at 11 AM at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Warroad.  Interment will be at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery at a later date.  Military honors by the Warroad American Legion and VFW.

            Evan Henry Frutiger, age 94, died on March 3, 2018 at the LifeCare Medical Center in Roseau. Evan was born on October 10, 1923 in Warroad, MN to Robert and Mathilda (Gauthier) Frutiger. He attended school in Warroad and was baptized and confirmed at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. He served in the U.S. Navy from January 1942 to November 1945 as a Seaman First Class aboard the battleship North Carolina in the Pacific Ocean.

            Evan married Jeannette Hewitt in Austin, MN on October 11, 1947, and worked for many years as a production engineer for the Ex-Cell-O Tool & Manufacturing Company. Jeannette died on April 25, 1998 in Roseville, MN, where she and Evan made their home for over half a century. A few years after moving back to Warroad, Evan married his childhood sweetheart, Sarah (Mason) Allard, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on November 5, 2005. Sarah died in Duluth on March 14, 2014.

            At home in Warroad, Evan fed songbirds every day in his backyard, and he kept a close eye on the weather. He enjoyed classic movies, music from the swing jazz era, and walleye dinners. He rode his bicycle until he was 85, continued mowing his lawn through this past summer and fall, and was still shoveling snow in late February.

            Evan was preceded in death by his parents and eight siblings: half-sisters Eva Molstad, Emma Schinert and Minnie Wright; half-brothers Aime Gauthier and T. Emil Gauthier; and brothers Alvin, Clifford and Paul Frutiger. He is survived by sister Lillian Fortier of Warroad, brother Chris Frutiger of Baudette, and many nieces and nephews. His step-daughter Ruth Allard and dear friends Tom and Cyd Amiot also survive him.

            A Mass of Christian Burial with military honors will take place at St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 24, with Father Todd Arends officiating. Evan’s final resting place will be at Fort Snelling Cemetery in St. Paul. Gifts in his memory may be sent to St. Mary’s or to a charity of one’s choice.  

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