Joseph "Joe" Ebner

Joe Ebner of Wadena, MN died on Thursday, December 4, 2025; exactly 85 years and four months to the date of his birth in Wadena, MN. Joe was a numbers guy so this tidbit would be important to him.  Joseph Owen Ebner was the second son of Maurice and Tina Ebner. His siblings included his older brother Mike Ebner, his “kid “Brother John Ebner and, for a brief period of time, his sister Mary Francis Ebner. Joe fondly recalled his youth in Wadena. He was a student at Saint Ann’s school, Wadena high school and wanted to join the military after graduating high school. But Joe was short and Joe was skinny so he barely made weight for the Navy before commencing to his career at seeing the world. Subsequent to the Navy Joe also joined the Army. He was a well traveled man. Joe was intentional about seeing as much of the world as he could. When Joe could no longer travel, he would see the world through movies and television. Joe could see someplace in Italy, the Middle East or some other far away place in the world on television and say: “oh I remember when I was there”, then go on to describe the architecture, the culture, the climate, the streets by name, the food and drink by preference. Joe also valued education. He attended NDSU and was a strong proponent of youth getting a good education. Joe lived in Minnesota, Germany, New Jersey and California. For Joe, Wadena and Ottertail Lake were his home.

Joe was an extraordinary person. He affected those he met in various ways. He maintained lifelong friendships with people he encountered during his travels and especially those who truly got to know him in Wadena. Joe was certainly a people person. His career reflected that. People will remember Joe as the cowboy hat wearing “petroleum transfer engineer” at Chuck’s Union 76. Due to numerous heart attacks Joe retired early in life. He was was committed to civic involvement. Joe was the commander of the American Legion Post for numerous years. His car had personalized Wadena license plates. Joe successfully made his case to the state of Minnesota to obtain those personalized plates. Being a routined individual, Joe was known to frequent local establishments in the community on various days and his family appreciates those who relied on Joe’s routine to identify where he would be on any given day. Most notably are the Boondocks, Larry’s Family Pizza, the Wadena VFW, and, of utmost importance to Joe, the Friendly Rider.

Jos was passionate about politics, sports, travel and education. He was a self proclaimed gearhead. His automotive and aviation knowledge were of itself an ever evolving education experience for Joe. Being a numbers guy, Joe appreciated the lottery and participated in Minnesota’s lottery games since their inception. He analyzed number trends, had his preferential numbers and saved every lottery ticket he ever bought. He would document his analysis of the numbers and journal his “what if” list of the things he would do, purchase and go see if he won the lottery. Joe truly believed it was an if, not a when but always held hope. He recently had all the winning numbers on a ticket for one lottery that matched the winning numbers for another lottery.

Joe’s greatest passion in life was his contribution to the life of his great nephew Michael. Joe planted a tree in Michael’s honor when Michael was born and was astounded when Michael quickly surpassed the height of the tree. Joe always said he was never married and had no children that he was aware of, but he was a natural when it came to Michael. Joe read to Michael, watched children’s television programs with Michael, taught Michael valuable life lessons and instilled in him the importance to greet everyone by using their name and shaking their hand.

Joe's absence in the world will have a profound affect on those who loved and appreciated him. We can take comfort in knowing that Joe believed in the faith he was baptized into and, because he loved cars, he will probably be racing Mickey Thompson again.

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