Lance A. Lazar

Lance Lazar, Appleton, passed away at his home Saturday, May 30, 2020, at the age of 47.
Lance was born March 1, 1973, in Park Falls, Wisconsin to Donna (Makovsky) Karas and was raised in the Phillips, Kennan, and Catawba areas. He spent many years living with his grandparents, Joe & Lucille Makovsky, in Catawba, where he graduated from Phillips High School in 1991.
Lance was a hard worker – during high school, he worked for a neighbor on their farm as well as working at 5R Processors. After high school, his career took him many places. He worked at Blount (Caterpillar) in Prentice from 1992-1999, where he ran a CNC brake press, burner table, and other equipment. He then moved to Oshkosh in 1999 when he worked a short time for Wisconsin Central Railroad. He eventually joined Michels Corp. for 7 years where he ran a backhoe, drill rigs, trenchers, bulldozer, and became a bore rig operator. In 2007, he went to work for Intercon Construction doing much the same type of work, but it was here that he became an expert operator of the Hammerhead directional boring equipment. Because of his highly successful bore rate, he was recruited to work for Hammerhead Drilling. He traveled the world operating and teaching others how to use the equipment. His travels took him all over the United States, Mexico, and Canada, as well as Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Brussels, Amsterdam, Spain, India, and more. He worked for Hammerhead under numerous ownership changes until October 2019, and was starting to plan the next phase of his life. He not only lived in Appleton for most of his life, but he owned and managed several duplex homes, including the one in which he lived.

Lance had a great sense of humor - a silly sense of humor for certain. He was a master of practical jokes. He loved to tell stories and he loved to hear stories. He traveled the world for his job and loved meeting people and getting to know them. Lance never knew a stranger. His loving smile and his silly sense of humor will live on in our hearts; we’ll miss his typical goodbye -- “have a Smurfy Day”.

Lance is survived by his mother, Donna of Madison, WI; his father, Jeff Lazar (Cody, WY); his sister, Misty (Scott) Lewis; nephews, Cameron, Caden and Cole Lewis of Waunakee, WI; stepsister, Alexis Karas of Chicago, along with numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins. As far as those three nephews, they were the light of Lance’s life. He could not be any prouder of his three nephews; he adored these boys who have grown into awesome young men.

He was preceded in death by his step-father, Michael Karas.

Graveside Service will be held at 1:30 pm on Friday, June 5, 2020, at Catawba Cemetery in Catawba, WI. All family and friends are welcome to attend.