Walter J. MARTENS

MARTENS, BROWN, SPOERNER, BEATTY, WELLIK, WILL, SPITZER, KAISER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/21/2006 at 01:32:40

The Gazette (Cedar Rapids-Iowa City)
December 8, 1996

Walter J. Martens, 86, of 38 Ash Dr., died Saturday, Dec. 7, 1996, in Willow Gardens Care Center, Marion, after a brief illness. Services: 1 p.m. Wednesday, United Church of Christ, Eagle Grove, Iowa, by the Rev. Edgar James. Burial: Rose Hill Cemetery, Eagle Grove. Friends may call from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday at Murdoch Funeral Home, Marion, and from 3 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Willim Funeral Home, Eagle Grove, where a Masonic service begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Survivors include his companion, Ellen Lenth of Cedar Rapids; a son, Dennis and wife Martha of Nashville, Tenn.; a daughter, Cynthia Brown and husband Max of Marion; a sister, Amanda Spoerner of Tucson, Ariz.; a brother, Arnold of Somerville, Ala.; four grandchildren, David and Jim Martens and Dana and Shawn Beatty; a great-granddaughter, Raven Beatty; a great-grandson, Derik Martens; three stepgrandchildren, Ken and Keith Brown and Kathy Wellik; and a stepgreat-granddaughter, Kaylee Wellik. He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Charlotte and a sister, Erna Will.

Walter was born the son of Henry and Louise Spitzer Martens on May 30, 1910, in Hammond, Ind. On Oct. 24, 1931, he married Charlotte Elizabeth Caroline Kaiser in South Bend, Ind. She died Jan. 29, 1990, in Fort Dodge. For 20 years, he operated the water plant for the city of Eagle Grove. He was a member of United Church of Christ in Eagle Grove; Masonic Lodge 464 AF&AM; and El Kahir Shrine. In 1990, he was named Outstanding Citizen of the Year in Eagle Grove. A memorial fund has been established.