COULTER, Fred E. Sr. 1886-1964

COULTER, CRECELIUS, KURTZ, DUTTON

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 2/24/2015 at 14:14:24

Fred E. Coulter, Prominent County Farmer, Is Dead

Fred E. Coulter Sr., 77, one of southwest Grundy county's most prominent farmers and civic leaders, died at 8:25 p.m. last Tuesday in a Marshalltown hospital following a stroke.

Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Conrad Presbyterian Church with Rev. H. L. Heim officiating. Burial was in the Conrad cemetery.

Casketbearers were Burl Bone, Don Martin, Paul Franzenburg Jr., Elmer Senning, Dewey Hunt and Clarence Hogle.

Special music for the service was provided by Mrs. Ronald Beeghly, with Mrs. Don Martin organist. Flower attendants were Mrs. Clinton Critser, Mrs. Clarence Hogle and Mrs. Alvin Russie.

Fred Earl Coulter was born April 5, 1886, in Liscomb township, Marshall county. He grew up in the northern part of Marshall county, the third child of Aaron A. and Etta Crecelius Coulter.

In 1907 he worked for six months on the Bar C ranch in Wyoming. The winter of 1908 he worked in the Family Theatorium nickelodeon in Grove City, Penna.

He was united in marriage to Verna Opal Kurtz on Sept. 10, 1910, at her parents' home in Taylor Township, Marshall County. To this union were born Fred Ellsworth Coulter, Conrad; Mrs. Wilfred (Doris) Dickenson, LeRoy, Minn.; and a daughter, Joyce, who died in 1917 at the age of 19 months. They farmed in Marshall county and in May, 1913 moved to the present farm in Felix township, Grundy county. Verna Coulter died Aug. 20, 1920.

August 29, 1923, Fred married Lucille Eleanor Dutton at the farm which has been their home since. Their children are Mrs. Leonard (Darleen) Vajgrt, Minneapolis, Minn.; Sue Lynne Coulter and Steven Earl Coulter at home.

He was a Justice of the Peace; a past president and director of the Grundy County REA Board; helped organize the Corn Belt Power Cooperative, and the Conrad Farms' Co-op in 1920; and was instrumental in the building of the Conrad swimming pool. He was a member of the Conrad Presbyterian Church, the Royal Neighbor Lodge, and a charter member of the Lions Club of Conrad.

Surviving besides the widow and children are seven grandchildren; two brothers, Guy, Conrad, and Arch, Charlo, Montana; two sisters, Mrs. Ella Diller, Pasadena, Calif., and Mrs. Lois Mullen, Balboa, Calif.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 12 March 1964, pg 1