CARSTENS, Ernest T.

CARSTENS, MEIR, REINERT, MITCHELL, HILL, SCHAU, BURBACK, GROTH, DROEGMILLER

Posted By: Lynette Edsall (email)
Date: 9/13/2006 at 14:23:11

Ernest T. Carstens

QUIMBY, Iowa -- Ernest T. Carstens, 86, of Quimby died Monday, April 18, 2005, at Careage Hills in Cherokee, Iowa, where he received excellent, loving care following a three-month illness.

Graveside services will be 11 a.m. Saturday in Quimby Cemetery. Following the graveside service, there will be a fellowship and a casual lunch served at the Quimby Community Center. Arrangements are under the direction of Greenwood Funeral Home in Cherokee.

Ernie was born Aug. 25, 1918, on a farm south of Quimby, to German immigrant parents, Ferdinand and Emma (Meir) Carstens. He was united in marriage to Hilda Reinert on April 4, 1940, in Maryhill, Iowa. He was a lifelong resident of the Quimby community.

He is survived by his wife, Hilda of Quimby; five sons, Gary Carstens and his wife, Mary Jo of Quimby, Robert Carstens and his wife, Dorothy of Quimby, Richard Carstens and his wife, Diane of Denver, Colo., Ernie "Butch" Carstens and Connie Schmidt of Quimby and David Carstens and his wife, Connie of Cushing, Iowa; four daughters, Roberta and her husband, Richard Mitchell of Seattle, Wash., Molly Hill of Kenyon, Minn., Mary and her husband, Doug Schau of Ida Grove, Iowa, and Donna and her husband, Tom Burback of Storm Lake, Iowa; 30 grandchildren; 38 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren, for a total of 81 direct descendents and he was extremely proud of them all. He is also survived by as cousin, Alvina Groth of Rockford, Ill., who lived with them throughout her high school years; a sister, Ella Droegmiller of Cushing, Iowa; a sister-in-law, Wilma Carstens of Cherokee, Iowa; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by a son, Joseph Carstens in 1983; his parents; a sister, Bertha Robinson; and four brothers, Pete, Emil, Bill and Al Carstens.

In lieu of flowers, memorials will be directed to projects in his hometown of Quimby.