Tristan Levi Close

Tristan Levi Close, 21, passed away peacefully Thursday, August 8 2019 at Gundersen Hospital in La Crosse, WI. Tristan Levi “Flip” Close, the son of Raymond Close and Cindy (Eilers) Fritz was born January 31, 1998 in Prairie du Chien, WI. He attended school in Waukon and later graduated from Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC).

A Celebration of Life was held from 4-8 p.m. Saturday, August 10, 2019 at Thornburg-Grau Funeral Home and Cremation Service in McGregor.

Tristan spent most of his childhood in northeast Iowa and lived briefly in Alabama and Florida. Tristan was very active and really enjoyed cross country when he was in high school. He loved to be outside and always ended up being the center of attention. In his younger days he was always wearing crazy or bright clothes and a fair amount of pink. Most of us believed his favorite color was pink but it was actually purple. Tristan was always a fan of hats but not just any hat would do, and you better not bend the bill on it or take off the sticker. When he was younger it was always crazy stunts with or without his bike and as he got older his passion turned to cars and dirt bikes. Tristan was always a risk taker, no jump was too big and there was never a bad spot to pull off a backflip. He loved the attention he received from making people nervous about what he was about to do and it was evident in the grin he always had beforehand. Tristan occupied a lot of his time doing odd jobs and helping his grandma, but when he was alone Tristan always turned to music. He also really enjoyed stargazing on a clear night. Tristan was always tinkering with something and trying to make it better, but that didn’t always go as planned.

Tristan loved his brothers and sister. He was proud of how much his little brothers looked up to him and wanted to be just like him and Tristan spent a lot of time showing them how to do things. He enjoyed spending time with his sister looking for agates, kayaking and just cruising around in the car.

In the year 2018, Tristan’s life changed in ways he could never imagine. In March, he became an uncle which was amazing but it got even better a month later in April, when he was blessed with a son of his own. Tristan had many friends and was always surrounded by people that loved him and he was big on helping others. Tristan had many gifts but his last and greatest gift was the gift of life to others.

Tristan is survived by his father; Raymond Close of McGregor, Iowa; mother, Cindy (Mike) Fritz of Clermont, Florida; sister, Mickayla Close of Waukon, Iowa; brothers, Braydon and Conner Fritz of Clermont, FL; son, Jasper Close of Caledonia, MN; nephew, Cybastian Kountkofsky of Waukon; grandparents, Debbie Eilers-Lange of McGregor, Michael (Darla) Eilers of McGregor, Sandra Genthe of McGregor; step grandparents, Cynthia Fletcher of Postville and Jairus “Jay” Fritz of Des Moines; great grandmother, Joyce “Grandma Grape” Eilers of Prairie du Chien; and aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. Tristan was preceded in death by his uncle, Scott “Toby” Close and grandfather, Donald Close.