GIRTON, Harlan Wilson

GIRTON, MATTHEWS, CARLSON, BUTLER, SCHWEITZER, EATON, NOVASCONE, KASERMAN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/8/2018 at 03:07:28

Obituary ~ Harlan Wilson Girton
August 06, 1905 ~ March 28, 2000

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Thursday, March 30, 2000

MASON CITY - Harlan W. Girton, 94, of 507 So. Tennessee Place, died Tuesday (March 28, 2000) at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit.

Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at the First Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Terry Hamilton-Poore officiating. Private family committal will be held at Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery. There will be no visitation. Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave., is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be given to First Presbyterian Church or Hospice of North Iowa.

Harlan W. Girton was born Aug. 6, 1905, at West Bend, Iowa, the son of Robert B. and Jennie (Matthews) Girton. The family moved to Whittemore in 1912 and then came to Mason City in 1919. Harlan graduated from Mason City High School in 1923 and Iowa State University in 1927.

He married Gretchen Carlson on Oct. 29, 1935. She died June 7, 1950. Harlan then married Katherine S. Sheffler on Aug. 6, 1952, in Mason City. She died Jan. 25, 1998.

Harlan was president and general manager of Northwestern Distributing Co. for 39 years, retiring in 1966.

They spent many winters in Arizona. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, an elder in the church; a 32nd Degree Mason, member of the Benevolence Lodge #145 A.F. & A.M. Scottish Rite Bodies, El Kahir Shrine Temple, High Twelve; past president of the Mason City Kiwanis Club; former board member of the First National Bank from 1942 to 1978; former board member of the YMCA and the North Iowa Fair Board; director of the Iowa Grain and Feed Association.

Harlan enjoyed doing needle point and was a loving and caring gentleman, who enjoyed spending time with his family, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He is survived by son, Robert C. Girton and his wife, Carol, of Idaho Falls, Idaho; daughter, Judith G. Butler and husband, LeRoy, of Clear Lake; grandchildren, Jeffrey Girton and his wife, Lori, of Rigby, Idaho, Cynthia Schweitzer and husband, Jim, of Marble Hill, Ga., Michael Butler and wife, Jolene, of Mason City, Julie Eaton and husband, Jason, of Springfield, Mo., Stephen Novascone and wife, Kristi, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Sara Kaserman and husband, Justin, of Boise, Idaho; great-grandchildren, Andrew and Benjamin Girton of Idaho Falls, Idaho, Benjamin and Bryce Butler of Mason City, Sydney and Courtney Eaton of Springfield, Mo., Warren Novascone of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Taylor and Paul Kaserman of Boise, Idaho.

He was preceded in death by his parents, by Gretchen, Katherine and his brother, Russell.

Major Erickson Funeral Home & Crematory, (515) 423-0924.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2018