Harold Frank Deters - 1914-1989

DETERS, BUNGE, BURTON, IWEN, ALBEE

Posted By: Connie Ellis (email)
Date: 1/6/2011 at 10:00:44

SOURCE: Waukon, Iowa, WAUKON REPUBLICAN-STANDARD, July 18, 1989
Contributor: Connie Ellis(Not related)

Lifetime area resident Harold Frank Deters, 74, of Waukon, Iowa, died Thursday July 13, 1989 at Lutheran Hospital in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Funeral services were held at 10:30 a.m. Monday July 17 at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Waukon, Iowa with the Rev. Dean Shelly officiating. Burial was in St.Luke's Cemetery in Eitzen, Minnesota with Martin Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. Casket bearers were Gerald Meyer, Russell Paus, Gaylen Fruechte, John Meyer, and Charles Schroeder.

Harold was born November 26,1914 on the family farm near Dorchester to Louis Henry and Mathilda (Bunge) Deters. He was baptized and confirmed at St.Luke's United Church of Christ, Eitzen, Minnesota. He graduated from the Waukon High School where he was an honor student and participated in football, basketball, and baseball. He attended Iowa State College in Ames for two years studying veterinary medicine. On November 29, 1939 he married Carol L. Burton at St. Luke's church. He was a member of St. Paul's Methodist Church.

For 45 years he owned and operated Emerald Livestock Farm near Dorchester, Iowa which was homesteaded in 1860 by his grandfather who settled there in 1842. It served as a stagecoach stop and also a stop on the underground railroad during the Civil War. He was a nationally known raiser of Simmental and Maine-Anjou cattle which he showed and sold on a national level. He received many awards for them. He was a winner of several awards for conservation efforts, and was an area pioneer in the use of terraces, farm ponds, erosion control, no till planting, strip farming, and artificial insemination for his cattle herd. He helped to grow the first supply of seed for Emerald Crown Vetch and was a large supplier of the seed. He had 100 acres designated National Forest and was invited by the President of Mexico to visit and talk about cattle breeding programs used on the farm.

He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother Edward Deters, and three sisters, Alice, Alma, and Emma.

He is survived by his wife, Carol, a daughter Andrea (Dr. Bill) Iwen of Luxemburg, Wisconsin, two sons, Rev. David Deters of Muscatine, Iowa and Dr. Michael Deters of Waterloo, Iowa; seven grandchildren and two sisters, Mrs. Don (Margaret) Albee of Ephrata, Washington and Mrs. Ralph (Esther) Albee of Buhl, Idaho.