Carl Henry Kuhnle, 02 Mar 1914 – 16 Oct 2010

KUHNLE, BUHR, WILLIAMS, STROH, CLARK

Posted By: Sandy Ficken-whc (email)
Date: 10/21/2010 at 11:34:06

Celebration of life services for Carl H. Kuhnle, 96, Williamsburg, will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, at Trinity Lutheran Church, Conroy. He died Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010, at Mercy Hospital, Iowa City. The Rev. Gary Sears will officiate at the service. Burial will be in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery, Conroy.

Memorials may be made to the Leukemia Society and the American Diabetes Association. Powell Funeral Home and Cremation Service, Williamsburg, is in charge of arrangements. Messages and tributes may be left at www.powellfuneralhomes.com, under obituaries.

Carl Henry Kuhnle was born March 2, 1914, in Leonx Township, Iowa County, the son of Bernhard and Katherine (Buhr) Kuhnle. He was baptized and confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church, Conroy. He attended Trinity Lutheran School, Hilton Consolidated School and graduated from Conroy High School in 1932. After graduation, he worked on various farms around Conroy, for Allan Stanerson, Arnold Maas and Henry Plagmann Sr.

He married Anna Williams June 20, 1936. They lived in the telephone office and he worked for Herbert Stohlman on the telephone lines. It was through Everett James that he obtained work for Swift and Company, gathering poultry, eggs and cream in the country.

In 1943, he purchased the grocery story in Conroy from Mrs. Black and the same year he was appointed postmaster of Conroy. It was through the postmaster’s office that he was transferred to Hiawatha to be the postmaster in a new post office. He and his wife moved there and joined the Zion Lutheran Church, holding several offices. He was appointed in 1953 as lay delegate to Trianian Conventions, Houston, Texas, and again in 1965 to Detroit, Mich. He served as postmaster in Hiawatha from 1957 to 1977 under appointment of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, retiring after 34 years in government service as postmaster.

The couple lived in Council Bluffs until her death in 2006, when he moved back to Williamsburg. He was a lifetime member of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, holding offices for many years in Hiawatha and at Woodland Lutheran, Montverde, Fla. He had a great voice and loved to sing.

Kuhnle is survived by four children and their spouses, Gerald and Judith Kuhnle, Jefferson, Wis.; Kathleen and Bill Stroh, Lincoln, Calif.; Dennis and Lynn Kuhnle, Charlotte, N.C., and the Rev. David and Eileen Kuhnle, Honey Creek; eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his parents; one daughter, Patricia Kuhnle; one granddaughter, Patricia Clark; three brothers and four sisters.

The Williamsburg Journal Tribune, Williamsburg, IA - 21 Oct 2010, pg 9