Howard Maki

Funeral service for Howard Maki, 88, of Markham, will be 11am Thursday in Heritage Trail Bible Church in McKinley with Michael Wefel and Mike Maki officiating. Visitation will be Wednesday 5-7pm in Ziemer-Moeglein-Shatava Funeral Home in Aurora and will continue for one hour prior to the service at the church. Military honors will be accorded by the Aurora/Hoyt Lakes Color Guard. Burial will be in the Markham Cemetery in Colvin Township. Mr. Maki died Sun. April 18, 2010 in St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth. He was born Aug. 25, 1921 in Markham, MN to Henry and Amanda (Limperi) Maki. Howard attended County School #102 in Markham and later worked for the family logging business. On Nov. 18, 1942 he was drafted into the US Army and served in the European Theater on several recognizance missions. He was honorably discharged as a Tec 5 in 1946. On Aug. 25, 1945 he married Alice Finnila in Palo. Howard worked construction in Greenland, North Dakota and locally prior to beginning employment as a custodian for the Palo School in the mid 1960's. He retired from the Aurora Public Schools as a custodian in 1987. He attended Heritage Trail Bible Church, enjoyed watching the Minnesota Twins and the Minnesota Vikings, however deer hunting was his passion. He enjoyed every moment of preparing, planning all aspects and passing on the tradition to the next generations. He also had the gift of being a versatile handyman who could create and fix anything. Survivors include his wife: Alice; children: Mike (Mary) Maki of Forest Lake, Arlen (Katie) Maki of Makinen, Ron (Dianna) Maki of Makinen, Lori (Paul) Saumer of Makinen and Carol (Warren) Koskiniemi of rural Gilbert; 17 grandchildren: Jamie, Beth, Sarah, Phil, Aaron, Rachel, Julie, Yvonne, Allison, Deanne, Nathan, Jeremy, Joshua, Kasie, John, Jessica and Keri; 27 great grandchildren; brother: Eero Maki of Makinen; numerous nieces and nephews He was preceded in death by his parents; and siblings: Thomas, Elias, Eino, Frank, Lauri, Helmi, Esther and one brother in infancy.