Edward E. Prinkkila

Funeral services will be 10:30 am Monday, November 10, 2014 at Faith Lutheran Church in Hoyt Lakes with Pastors Brendan Johnston and Barbara Hegfors officiating. Visitation will be 4-6 PM Sunday at the Ziemer-Moeglein-Shatava Funeral Home in Aurora and will continue one hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will be in the Hoyt Lakes Memorial Cemetery. Memorials are preferred in lieu of flowers. Edward Ellard Prinkkila, 71, of Hoyt Lakes, died Thursday, November 6, 2014 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer at his home in Hoyt Lakes. He was born on June 23, 1943 to Ellard and Toyne (Rantanen) Prinkkila in Virginia, MN. He was a proud and loyal graduate of the Eveleth High School class of 1961. He attended Eveleth Junior College and North Dakota State University attaining an Electrical Engineering degree. On May 27, 1967, he married Ellen Lund and they made their home in Hoyt Lakes. For 22 years he worked at Erie Mining Company (LTV) as an Electrical Engineer. In 1987, he joined Minnesota Power where he was known for his customer first approach and help in improving energy efficiency at our local taconite plants, retiring in June 2003. Even though Ed retired, his passion for work and life never slowed down. He was an avid sportsman and conservationist, spending countless hours at his hunting camp on Linwood with his friends. He was a lifetime member of the Engineers Club of NE Minnesota, Amateur Trapshooting Association shooting more than eighty-thousand rounds and participated in league trapshooting all around Northern Minnesota. He was a member of Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, the Ranger Snowmobile and ATV Club, Iron Range Historical Society, as well as a past member of the Society of Mining Engineers and the Instrument Society of America. He was a charter member of the East Range Ducks Unlimited and a charter member of the East Range Sportsman and Conservation Club, where he invested significant time improving the new facility for all including helping with a grant for the Lavern Hammer Trap Club for youth shooting. As a member of the East Range Lions and Lions International, volunteering his time working with the Lions booth at Water Carnival as well as making improvements at the Longyear Drill Site. But Ed’s most important goal in life was leaving this place better off than he found it. He touched lives, made life-long friends, and gave of himself selflessly to everyone. Ed is survived by his wife, Ellen; daughter, Mary Anne (Brian) Prinkkila-Rogers, of Lincoln, NE; son, Lee (Pamela) Prinkkila of Eden Prairie, Minnesota; grandchildren, Emmelia Rogers, Alex Prinkkila & Max Prinkkila; brother, Tom Prinkkila (Nancy Lorence) of Maple Grove; sisters and brothers-in-law, Carol and Jerry Nylund, Katy Lund, Ken Lund; nieces & nephews, cousins and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents Ellard and Toyne, grandparents, in-laws Melvin Lund, Gunnar Lund, and Pat Lund.