Erik Robert Wentzel, 23, of Walton, Nebraska, the son of Rev. Robert and Deon Wentzel, died Friday, April 27th in Lincoln, Nebraska, after a lengthy illness.  He had received a heart-lung transplant in 1996 and a living-donor lung lobe transplant in 2004.

Erik was born April 15, 1984, in Grand Forks, North Dakota, the son of Robert and Deon (Hanson) Wentzel, and received the new birth of water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism on April 16. He attended his first years of school in Fisher, Minnesota.  He moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri in 1996, and confessed the Christian faith in the Rite of Confirmation on April 5, 1998 at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Olivette, Missouri.  He graduated from Lutheran North High School in St. Louis and moved to Walton, Nebraska, in 2002. He attended Concordia University in Seward and Southeast Community College in Lincoln, graduating with an associate's degree in Visual Publications this past winter.

Erik is survived by his parents;  three younger sisters, Karin, Gretchen, and Jana Wentzel, all of Walton;  grandparents, Don and Marilyn Hanson, Fargo, ND;  aunts and uncles, Roger and Rebecca Moe, Bygland, MN;  Jerold and Alvern Wentzel, Crookston, MN;  Mark and Jana Hanson, Grand Forks, ND;  Kirk and Angela Hanson, Colorado Springs, CO;  six cousins, Tim, Steve, and Rachel Moe, Sarah, Seth, and Adam Hanson;  and many other friends and relatives.  He was preceded in death by his grandparents Warner and Florence Wentzel.

Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 1, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 162nd St. and Old Cheney Rd., rural Walton.  Internment will be at Greenwood Cemetery, Fisher, MN, at a later date.  Memorials:  Trinity Lutheran Church, Walton; St. Louis Children's Hospital Family Care Fund.

Cards of Christian care can be sent to Rev. Robert and Deon Wentzel at 5315 S 162nd Street, Walton, NE 68461 or electronically to rwentzel@diodecom.net.  

Blessed are those who live and die in the Lord Jesus Christ!