BERNE — Fred C. Wukits, a veteran who worked as a manufacturing engineer, was a deeply religious man who enjoyed flying and woodworking.

Formerly of Berne, he died peacefully in his home in Grand Forks, North Dakota, on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015, after a long illness. He was 83.

Mr. Wukits had experienced frequent hospitalizations in the last year and his wife, Rev. Janice Jenson, cared for him in their home for the last three months. Hospice nurses checked in a couple of times a week.

“Fred and I got on the same page,” Rev. Jenson said. “If he could be home and free of pain, we could be happy.”

She also said, “At least three times in the last 11 years, Fred has had crises that should have meant his death.”  Eleven years ago, he had a heart attack when they were on vacation and minutes from a hospital with a cardiologist who saved his life.

Then, eight years ago, Mr. Wukits had a stroke “right in front of me in the parsonage in Berne,” she recalled.  “The Helderberg Ambulance responded quickly and efficiently, and a quick trip to the hospital got him there in time for drugs to be most effective.

“He had been in the hangar in Schenectady,” she said; her husband was a pilot. Had he been stricken in the hangar, she surmised, “He wouldn’t have been found for hours and he’d be dead or bedridden.”

Then, on this past Good Friday, April 3, Mr. Wukits suffered congestive heart failure just as his wife got home from attending services.

She said of the recent months she spent caring for her husband, “Just when we were getting to the stage where you need to let go...I got to love him more deeply than I had before.

“It really is a mystery,” Rev. Jenson said, recalling a priest’s message at the long-ago funeral she attended for John Favreau of Berne. “The priest said, as John lay bedridden, he asked why this was happening.”

“The priest said that he told John, ‘You begin life being held and taken care of...and now you are being helped and held.’ John said, ‘Nope. I think it’s a mystery.’ Much of this is mystery to me,” said Rev. Jenson, noting that she is used to be the one comforting mourners.

“I was on the other side for 30 years,” she said, “and it is still a mystery.”

She considers the way her husband died a gift from God. “It was a blessing for us that he was able to be home for three months, looking out his own living-room window, sitting in his own chair, sleeping in his own bed.”

Mr. Wukits was born to Rudolf and Wava (née Bailey) Wukits on June 17, 1932, in Rotterdam. He graduated from Draper School in Rotterdam when the school held all 12 grades, finishing school as a commuter after his family moved to a small farm in Knox. Mr. Wukits then rode in to school with his father, who worked for General Electric in Schenectady.

After his graduation, Mr. Wukits followed his father to GE and was accepted into the company's machinist apprentice program, which enabled him to move from the mailroom to hands-on manufacturing.  He finished his career as a methods specialist/manufacturing engineer.  

Mr. Wukits served in the United States Army from 1954 to 1956, having volunteered for the draft.  He was stationed in Germany, where he met and married Gabriele Ueberle.  They had four children and were together for 25 years, until her death in 1981.

The family settled in Knox and became active members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Berne. Mr. Wukits taught Sunday School, served on the church council and as vice president, and was a preaching deacon.

In November 1982, Mr. Wukits married the Rev. Jenson, whom both he and Gabriele had known as their pastor.  He moved to Grand Forks when his wife retired in 2007 and was an active member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church there.

Mr. Wukits was skilled in working with wood and various other materials.  His former church, his home, and others’ homes contain things that he has made and given away.  At the time of his death, he was making small gifts of wood to give away to friends at church.

After faith in God through Jesus Christ, one of Mr. Wukits’s greatest passions was airplanes.  He enjoyed both flying and helping friends work on their airplanes. Through the years, he built many model airplanes from scratch.

After his retirement, Mr. Wukits took flying lessons, bought a small airplane, and became a licensed pilot.  He flew to many places, including back and forth four times to Grand Forks with his wife for vacation.  He was a member of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and a life member of Pilots for Christ International.

Rev. Jenson described her husband’s death: “I woke up being aware it was quiet on that side of the bed,” she said. “He still had a bit of a pulse. It was such a gift to me: I was aware and awake at just the moment he left.”

She concluded, “From the journey at this point, looking back at all the wonders, I know we’ve been taken care of by God.”

****

Fred C. Wukits is survived by his wife, Janice; his children Robin and his wife, Christel, in Germany; Daniel in Florida, Bryan in Arizona, and Katja in California; his six grandchildren; and his one great-granddaughter.

He is also survived by his sister Nancy Davis and her husband, Al, in Galway, New York; his sister-in-law Marilyn Wukits in Hixson, Tennessee; his in-laws Donald Jenson and his wife, Ginny, in Hunter, North Dakota, and Debra Penas and her husband, Harold, in East Grand Forks, Minnesota; and a number of nieces, nephews, and cousins.

His first wife, Gabriele, died before him as did his brother Richard Wukits; his sister, Antonia Decker; and his parents and parents-in-law.

Mr. Wukits’s funeral service was held at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota, under the direction of Amundson Funeral Home in Grand Forks.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer