Virgil George Bendorf

   Find a Grave ID: 163350013.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Obituary: Larson Funeral Homes, 25 May 2016. Stitzer, WI-Virgil George Bendorf, age 84, left for his eternal home on Wednesday May 25, 2016. He was born Aug. 4, 1931 in rural Lancaster to Lewis and Nellie (Wieland) Bendorf. He graduated from Lancaster High School with the class of 1949.

On December 9, 1952 Virgil left for army basic training at Indian Town Gap, Pennsylvania. This led him to Korea where he proudly earned the rank of sergeant first class of a rifle company. His separation came on June 15, 1954. From the time of the draft notice until his release papers were given, his plan was "To Give my Best" and when his tour was complete, he felt his dream had been fulfilled.

Love of Farming led Virgil into being a part of the Bendorf Farm, which later became Burr Oak Farms. On June 14, 1956 he married Mary Brugger of Platteville. The farm was home for them until 1990 when they moved into Stitzer. Their life was enriched with four sons and a daughter.

Ivan (Carol) Bendorf of Stitzer, Philip (Sue) Bendorf of Warsaw, IN, Alan (Debbie) Bendorf of Stitzer, Dale (Candice) Bendorf of Gastonia, NC, Anna (Mike) Kutis of Gaston, IN, 12 grandchildren; Derrick, Shannon, Laura, Scott, Curtis, Joshua, Andrea, Dylan, Addison, Mitchell, Gregory and Beatrice, five great grandchildren; Will, Noah, Isaac, Emmett and Ashlyn, two brothers; Calvin Bendorf, Walter (Kaye) Bendorf, two sisters; Ivanelle Foreman, Margaret (Henry) Oechsle of Fennimore.

Proceeding in death besides his parents were his brothers Leslie, Lyle, Eldon, William and a sister Esther McFall.

Virgil was an active leader with his involvement in agricultural related activities, community, church and family. He Truly Did Give It His Best!

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Saturday May 28, 2016 at the Platteville Free Methodist Church with a luncheon to directly follow. After lunch, burial will be held at Hillside Cemetery in Lancaster with Military Honors. Visitation will be held from 4-7:00 P.M. on Friday May 27, 2016 at the Larson Family Funeral Home in Fennimore and from 10:00 A.M. until time of service at the church on Saturday morning. In lieu of plants and flowers a memorial fund is being established in loving memory of Virgil G. Bendorf.

2. Miscellaneous: On his funeral card, "So God Made a Farmer" by Paul Harvey. And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer.

"I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours." So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile drive to church.

"Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life 'doing what dad does.'" So God made a farmer.

Virgil married Mary Jean Brugger, daughter of Arthur William Brugger and Mary Evelyn Richards, on 14 Jun 1956 in Platteville, WI, Free Methodist Church. (Mary Jean Brugger was born on 14 Dec 1935 in Platteville, WI.)

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