Earl Gantenbein

GANTENBEIN

Posted By: June Brewer Welsch (email)
Date: 12/15/2008 at 18:35:18

Source Muscatine Iowa Journal June 9, 2005
Services: to be announced for a later date this year, at Greyston Park in Naples, Fla.

NAPLES, Fla. - Earl C. (Duke) Gantenbein passed away on May 30, 2005, at his home in Naples, Fla. Cremation has taken place at Dignity Memorial in Naples, and his remains will be interred at Bushnell National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida. A memorial service is planned for later in the year at Greystone Park in Naples.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Community Blood Center of Naples, Please indicate that the donation is made on behalf of Earl (Duke) Gantenbein.

Earl Gantenbein was born May 29, 1920, in Dubuque, the youngest of six children of Frank and Ida (Helmboldt) Gantenbein. He attended school in Dubuque and attended school in Dubuque and graduated from Dubuque High School in 1938, where he was an outstanding multi-sport athlete. He worked as a bank clerk in Dubuque and participated in a number of amateur sports activities until 1942, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Earl served with the Army Corps of Engineers in England, Germany, and France through December of 19456, supporting combat troops through construction of airfields, roads, and bridges. During his service, he was awarded the Purple Heart, and he received a field promotion to 2nd Lieutenant in January 1945.

After the war in Europe ended, while awaiting his return to the U.S. in Marseilles, France, Earl met an Army nurse, Erma Louise Hirschi from Montpelier, Idaho, who was in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, in Marseilles, France shortly before his return to the U.S.

Earl and Louise were married March 9, 1946, in Dubuque. He had just enrolled at the University of Dubuque on the G.I. Bill, pursuing both his education and athletic career in football and basketball. While in college, he played both football and basketball. He was named to the All-Iowa Conference football team in 1947 and graduated with a B.A. in Physical Education in 1950. He was a member of the all-Iowa Intercollegiate Athletics Conference football team in 1947. He graduated with a B.A. in Physical Education in December 1949.

After graduating from Dubuque, Earl went on to the University of Iowa, where he to received his M.A. in Physical Education in December 1951.

He also moved to Muscatine, Iowa, where he began his teaching and coaching career at the Muscatine High School in January 1950. His first son, Rex Earl Gantenbein, was born in February 1950, and his a second son, Bruce Frank Gantenbein, was born in September 1951.

Earl taught physical education at Muscatine High and coached a number of several sports at Muscatine. The high point of his coaching career came in March 1954 when the Muscatine High basketball team defeated a team from much larger Des Moines Roosevelt to win the Iowa State High School championship.

Earl continued to coach and teach physical education at Muscatine High School until 1967, when he became the assistant principal at Muscatine Central Junior High School, a position he held until his retirement in 1979. That year, he and Louise moved to a home in Greystone Park in Naples, Florida, where they resided in Greystone Park until his death. During his time in Naples, Earl (more familiarly known there as "Duke") was active in the Greystone Park community, serving as the park president from 1982-83, organizing an annual blood drive for the Naples Community Blood Center, and participating in shows and parades almost every year. He also was elected to the University of Dubuque's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.

Throughout his life, Earl loved fishing. While working, he spent many summers with his family in various locations in Iowa, Minnesota, and Ontario where he could get out on the water and try to catch his limit. After retirement, he learned of the opportunities afforded by the Gulf of Mexico, although for many years he continued to spend summers in Sioux Narrows, Ontario, to fish the waters of Lake of the Woods.

He is survived by Louise Gantenbein, his wife of almost 60 years; his son and daughter-in-law, Rex Gantenbein and Judith Powers of Laramie, Wyoming; his son, Bruce Gantenbein, of Iowa City, Iowa; and grandchildren Jesse and Sara Gantenbein of Iowa City.
Note I'm no relation to him