Henry "Hank" Stelzer went to spend eternity with the Lord on Feb. 27, 2015.

Hank was born in Lustre, Mont. on Sept. 9, 1930. In 1937, Hank's family moved from Montana to Floodwood, Minn., (50 miles northwest of Duluth, Minn.). He graduated from the Floodwood High School in 1949. Hank attended the LaSalle Business School, then in Chicago, Ill., and Northwestern Bible School in Minneapolis before enlisting in the Army. He was also enrolled in a number of military schools on location and by correspondence, and enrolled with the University of Maryland while in the Army.

Hank lost his eyesight in 1975. At that time he was working with the Housing and Redevelopment Authority in Duluth. Hank resigned from that position and started his own business called Country Small Engine which became very successful. He sold the business in 1979. Also during that time, Hank received training at the Duluth Lighthouse for the Blind and served on the Executive Board of Directors. He was also employed with the Northland Children's Home in Duluth, as well as with the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Hank joined the Peace Corps in the latter of part of 1979. He was assigned to the country of Lesotho in Southern Africa where he was employed as a blind teacher at the only blind school in the country. It was reported that Hank was the first white blind person to work in Lesotho, and he was observed to be quite a spectacle with his ability to do so many things that were not expected of a severally visually impaired person.

Hank resigned from the Peace Corps in September 1980 and returned to the United States, whereupon he sold all that he had and returned to Lesotho. With the proceeds of his sale, Hank built the first Blind Skill Training Center in that country. It was named the Visual Problem Center. He trained a number of blind students who then were gainfully employed in the private and public sector. His students were the first blind students to be employed in that country. Hank turned the Visual Problem Center over to the Basotho people in 1986.

After Hank left the Center, he founded several profitable businesses. His first business venture was the founding of a wool and textile supermarket. As the owner of the supermarket, Hank employed and trained only unemployed individuals. He started the business with two employees, and four years later he had 25 employees on the payroll.

One notable aspect of Hank's ventures in Lesotho was that he never kept even one cent for himself as he supported himself on his own disability funds. He had a number of apartments and houses built for the poor and needy at no cost to them from the profits of the business.

When Hank sold the business, he founded a transportation Company named HUMM. The company, with 12 Toyota mini-vans and a 25 passenger Mercedes buses, was actually "stolen" from him (by corrupt people) when he was shot. Hank survived, even though the doctors gave him less than eight hours to live. He was treated at the University Hospital in Bloemfontein in the Republic of South Africa. While Hank was involved in the company, before being shot, he again did not keep any of the income for himself but gave it all to the needy by building houses and apartments, and helping the blind. Among other accomplishments, Hank began working with orphaned children in a private capacity in South Africa.

Hank was a veteran of the Korean War and was assigned to the 8204th American Graves Registration Unit. His assignment was something that bothered him and he did not like to talk about it. His other duties in the military included being a Supply Sgt. for the 3rd Central Dental Laboratory in Croux Chapeau, France; a Training Sgt. in El Paso, Texas; and a Troop Information and Education NCO at Camp Stewart, Ga., among other duties. Hank enlisted in the Army in 1951 and served in the active Army honorably until June 1956. He then participated in the Active Reserve and was discharged as a Platoon Sgt., (SFC E-7) with a Selected Reserve Force in Duluth in 1967.

Hank was a life member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Blind Veterans of America.

Hank was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters and two brothers.

He is survived by brothers Paul of New Jersey and Franklin of Florida; sisters Ida Pedey of Coeur d'Alene and Erma Sharp of Waco, Texas. Hank has four children by his first marriage to Nancy Lave: David of Tacoma, Wash., Elizabeth of Niceville, Fla., Debra of Duluth/Two Harbors, Minn., and Daniel of Aurora, Colo. Hank is survived by his second former wife, Alina, of Atlanta, Ga., and daughter Itumeleng serving in the Air Force.

The memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 14, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Please visit Hank's online memorial and sign his guestbook at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com.