Francis R. Ahlemann, 88, of Bradley, Illinois died Tuesday (April 2, 2013) at Riverside Medical Center.

Visitation will be from 5 p.m. Thursday until the 7 p.m. funeral services at Clancy-Gernon Funeral Home in Bourbonnais.

Interment will be at noon Friday in Montgomery Cemetery, Oakland City, Ind.

Francis was born Dec. 31, 1924, in Oakland City, the son of Arthur and Bessie Stephens Ahlemann.

He graduated as Class of 1943 valedictorian from Oakland City High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts from ONU. He served in the U.S. Army in Japan during World War II.

For 20 years, he owned and operated the Ahlemann Insurance agency in Kankakee. He also enjoyed doing carpentry work and plumbing.

He is survived by his wife, of Bradley, the former Barbara Manning, whom he married Sept. 1, 1950, in Bourbonnais; one son and daughter-in-law, Steven and Rhonda Ahlemann, of Bradley; one daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth and Carl Wallace, of Chattanooga, Tenn.; two grandchildren, Dustin (Tandy) Ahlemann and Christopher (Kim) Ahlemann, both of Everett, Wash.; two great-grandchildren, Aubrie and Brayden Ahlemann; and two sisters, Esther Johnson, of Indianapolis, Ind., and Helen Carter, of Columbus, Ind.

He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Ethel Strickland, the Rev. Dorothy Ahlemann, and Mary Hawthorne; and brothers, Bill Ralph, and Tom, John and James Ahlemann.