Henry Wiens

Henry (Hank) Wiens, 95, passed away from natural causes on December 20, 2018 surrounded by loved ones.
Hank was born in American Falls, ID on May 24th, 1923. He was the second child of Jacob and Amollie Wiens. His older brother was Ferdinand Wiens and his sister was Lena Wiens.
Growing up Hank developed a great love for baseball and had hoped of maybe playing it professionally when he grew up. Sadly he was never able to pursue this dream as his Dad thought it was more important to work then to play. Even so his love for the game lasted most of the remainder of his life and up until just a few years ago he never saw a game on TV that he did not like.
In 1943, Hank joined the 158th infantry regiment (Bushmasters) in the US Army. He was stationed in New Guinea, The Philippines, and was in Japan during the occupation. During his service, he reached the rank of Staff Sergeant and earned several metals and ribbons including two purple hearts and a good conduct metal.
After World War II, Hank returned to Caldwell, Idaho where he lived with his Uncle Abe and Aunt Margaret and his cousins. He would call his cousins his “brothers”. He also got reacquainted with Sarah Dorothy Dick, who was a friend of his family. He and Dorothy soon married on May 1st, 1946. She would be the love of his life for all the rest of his days on earth. They had three children: Wayne, Rodney, and Karen. Eventually he and Dorothy would settle down in Caldwell in a house he built himself with her help. He would always say that he put every nail and every board into that house himself.
Hank worked slaughtering cattle on the kill floor of Armour’s, (formerly known as Kings) for almost thirty years. Hank was a hard worker and a good provider for his family. When Armour’s was sold to ConAgra in 1983 it was shut down and reopened as a non union plant with the employees having to reapply for their jobs with reduced wages and benefits. Hank did not apply at first but a fellow employee who did asked him if he would like to come back as a maintenance worker which he did for a short time. After that he went to work for a friend repairing HUD houses and apartments, this included re-roofing a number of apartment buildings. Later he worked for another friend doing landscaping. This lasted until 1999. He kept himself busy on his own property, which was just under an acre. The leisurely pace of retirement took some time to get used to.
Hank is survived by his three children, Wayne Wiens, Rodney Wiens, and Karen Kichok (Bill), his grandchildren, Mark Wiens, Cornelius Geery, Delilah Kleiner, Teresa Irish, Alexandria Peterson, Sarita Kichok and Molly Kichok-Wilson, and his twelve great grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents, Jacob and Amollie Wiens. His siblings Ferdinand Wiens, and Lena Gallogly, and his wife, Sarah Wiens.
A Funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, January 4, 2018 at Dakan Funeral Chapel. Condolences may be shared with the family and a full obituary may be read at www.dakanfuneralchapel.com

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