Dennis Kreis, 80, of Greenfield

Celebration of Life Services: Will be held on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at the Greenfield United Methodist Church with burial in the Greenfield Cemetery. A luncheon will follow the service at the church. Pastor Melinda Stonebraker will officiate the service. The Lamb Funeral Home in Greenfield is in charge of the professional arrangements. Online condolences may be left to the family at www.lambfuneralhomes.com.

**The family has asked that people should wear any or all of the typical Denny uniform of bib overalls, jeans, concert t-shirts, and trucker caps.

Family Visitation: The family will greet friends on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the Greenfield United Methodist Church.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers memorials may be directed to the Cross Ministries, 1610 North Main Street, Osceola, Iowa 50213.

Dennis Edwin Kreis was born May 17, 1944 in Greenfield, Iowa. He passed away April 11, 2025 in the Greenfield Rehabilitation Care Center.

Denny grew up on the family farm northeast of Greenfield. He raised livestock, including his favorite sheep, Dodie, to show at the county fair. He helped his Dad around the farm as well as helping neighbors put up hay. He went to country school and later attended Greenfield High School graduating in 1962. After high school, Denny worked in maintenance for the school district with his brother in law, Gale Helm. He then purchased and ran Denny’s Texaco gas station. He may not have made a lot of money running the station, but he made a lot of friendships, something far more valuable to him. He sold the gas station and went back into the maintenance field at the Adair County Memorial Hospital. After a few years, he joined the Feeders Service construction crew. It was hard, manual labor but they worked just as hard at having fun as they did on the job.

After Feeders Service, Denny and his shenanigans returned back to the hospital in the late 70’s where he worked until retirement in 2006. Denny was well known around the hospital, made countless memories, and many co-workers became lifelong friends. He had an annual tradition at Christmas time to channel his inner Elvis and sing Blue Crhistmas over the PA system, continuing the tradition even into retirement.

He could fix just about anything. His jack of all trades, master of none personality allowed him to come up with a solution to almost any problem. He had a history of random injuries while working and his hospital coworkers always made sure to fix him up and get him back to work, knowing Denny often favored paper towels and duct tape to stop a bleeding finger. Denny’s garage “Hobby Shop” became the choice happy hour destination for the hospital crew, where lots of laughs were shared and memories made around the workbench.

Denny was able to use his hospital connections to collaborate with CROSS ministries in Osceola during his retirement to facilitate equipment donations to other medical facilities and countries in need. He spent countless hours in his garage sorting and storing items for the CROSS thrift store, eventually becoming the donation site in Greenfield.

Not one to sit idle, through the years he had various side jobs wiring buildings, homes and other projects helping family and friends. Recent years were spent collecting his fleet of tractors and building bird houses. He enjoyed giving birdhouses to friends and family. He also donated birdhouses to benefits and fundraisers and was always surprised to hear that his creations raised the amount of money they did.

He started collecting tractors in 2016 with his first Oliver, and added Farmalls and another Oliver to the fleet. As a kid he ran Oliver tractors on the farm, but always had a soft spot for Farmalls too. He took great pride in gathering his family to drive the fleet in the 4th of July parades.

If you knew him, you loved him. And if you loved him, he’d take care of you even if you didn’t know you needed it. His love and presence always felt like a warm hug and at the end of every visit that’s exactly what you’d get.

He knew broken hearts and dirty windows made life difficult to see, but in many ways, he saw life more clearly than any of us.

“If a fella knows some stuff and can do some things, he oughta help people with their stuff and things - Denny Kreis

Denny is preceded in death by his parents, Albert and Louise Kreis, his son in law Cyle Claflin, and daughter in law Ronda Kreis.

Survived by son Kevin Kreis of Grimes, Iowa; daughter Kate Claflin of Urbandale, Iowa; grandsons Nate (Taylor) Kreis of Granger, Iowa and Cameron and Caden Kreis of Grimes, Iowa; and great-grandson to be, Joseph Dennis Kreis; sister Margy Helm (Gale) of Greenfield, Iowa; nieces Lori Miller (Mike) of Fontanelle Iowa and Lisa Chafa (Jimmy) of Liberty Center, Iowa; great nieces Nicole (Victor) Jimenez of Urbandale, Iowa and Tia Chafa of Des Moines, Iowa; great nephew Sam Miller of Fontanelle, Iowa; and many friends, family, and friends he considered family.