Wesley Balzer
Born: June 2nd, 1925
Died: July 27th, 2015
Obituary
Wesley Balzer passed away with his family by his side at Palm Village Retirement Community on Monday, July 27th in Reedley, California at the age of 90.
Wesley was born on June 2, 1925 in Mountain Lake, Minnesota. He came to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior as a young boy. When Wesley was twelve years of age, the family moved to Shafter, California. After graduating from Wasco High School in 1943, Wesley enlisted in the US Army Medical Corps and served during WW11 in the Philippines and Japan. After his time in the service he moved to Salem, Oregon where he met Elda Unger. They were married in 1947 in Salem at the Kingwood Bible Church. In 1949 Wes and Elda moved to California where he worked at Maple Leaf Farms as a ranch foreman. In 1959 they moved to Bakersfield where he completed his education and began his career as a math teacher at Standard Jr. High where he taught for 29 years.
Wesley was a Bible scholar who spent many hours studying God's word and teaching it to others. He was a very skilled handyman and taught those skills to his boys. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather who loved the Lord deeply and served him faithfully. His life verse was Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Wes is survived by his wife of 67 years, Elda, his three sons and their wives Kenny and Sandy Balzer, Stan and Rosemary Balzer and Ronnie and Shelley Balzer, his nine grandchildren, Cody, Samantha, Jonathan, Courtney, Chuck, Lisa, Mark, Taylor and Tiffany and nine great grandchildren. He was met in heaven by his parents, Jacob and Margaret Balzer, his sisters, Sarah Fields and Verna Ensz and his brothers, John Balzer and Waldo Balzer.
Services will be held on Tuesday, August 11th, beginning with a graveside service at 9:00 a.m. at the Shafter Cemetery followed by an 11:00 a.m. service at Laurelglen Bible Church in Bakersfield. Viewing is scheduled for Monday, August 10th, from 4-8 p.m. at Greenlawn Funeral Home on River Blvd.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ) in support of Brenda Friesen at www.give.cru.org/0016944.