Kevin Foley

Kevin J. Foley, age 59, of Spicer, died Tuesday, August 4, at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 11:30 a.m. Friday, August 7, at the Church of St. Mary in Willmar. Interment will be in Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery in Murdock. Visitation will be from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Thursday, August 6, at the Church of St. Mary and will continue one hour prior to the service at the church on Friday. Arrangements are with Peterson Brothers Funeral Home.

Kevin John Foley was born on November 20, 1949, at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar, Minnesota to Francis and Mary Louise (Giuliani) Foley of Murdock, Minnesota. He grew up in the Murdock community and attended Murdock Public Schools graduating in 1967 and went on to the University of Minnesota a�" Morris graduating in 1971. On July 16, 1971 he started working for Production Credit Association in Ivanhoe, Minnesota as a loan officer. He married Debra K. Johnson on September 4, 1971 at an ecumenical service at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Clara City, Minnesota. They made their first home in Ivanhoe until 1975. Then they relocated to Fergus Falls, Minnesota and he worked as a branch manager/vice president of administration for PCA until September of 1985 when he and his family relocated to Willmar, Minnesota where he took a position as vice president of operations and served in various titles most recently as senior vice president of United FCS. He retired on December 1, 2008 after 37 ¼ years of service to the rural community in which he lived. Kevin was very proud of his Irish/ltalian heritage.

Kevin was actively involved in the community in various clubs: Sertoma of Fergus Falls as president and vice president and continued with Sertoma once he moved to Willmar. While in Fergus Falls he was actively involved with the Jaycees. He was involved in the Elks serving in various offices and concluding with exalted ruler and being selected Elk of the Year and Officer of the Year. Kevin was a former member and treasurer of the Willmar Salvation Army Advisory Board and co-founder of the homeless task force. He was active on the finance committee at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota which also had a catholic school for grades K through 6. He was active at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Willmar in being a member of the stewardship committee and the Relay for Life Team and as a hospitality minister. As hospitality minister Kevin always saw it as his role to ensure that a beautiful service was completed. As Father Joe would be getting ready to proceed to the front of the church Kevin would tap his watch and say "If it can't be said in six minutes it is not worth saying." This was his and Father Joe's way of saying that another beautiful liturgy was to take place. Kevin also loved working with Deb enjoying the yard, flowers, and garden and saw to it that it was always well groomed. After his parents' death, he helped manage a much bigger gardena�"a partnership of him and his sisters consisting roughly of 600 acres west of Willmar.

He is survived by his wife: Deb; three children: Nicholle (and Jason) Peterson of Spicer, Michelle (and Daniel) Petersen of St. Cloud, and Jonathan (and Jessica) Foley of Marshall; and four grandchildren: Megan Peterson, Madison Peterson, Jacob Peterson and Wyatt Foley. He is also survived by four sisters: Eileen Biermann (and special friend Verlyn Haider) of Rib Lake, Wisconsin, Mary (and David) Standing of New Brighton, Antoinette "Toni" (and Darrell) Vick of Raymond, and Dorothy (and Tim) Carlson of Hancock; and his brothers-in-law, Bradley (and Linda Maus) Johnson of Maynard, Bruce (and Gail) Johnson of Montevideo and Bryan (and Judy) Johnson of Loveland, Colorado, besides other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents, parents, one brother-in-law, Donald Biermann, Jr. and father-in-law, LeRoy Johnson.