Charles Virgil BRANSTETTER

BRANSTETTER, MCAFEE, MCKINSTREY, BLUM, JOHNSON, SCHMITZ, POWELL, FITZPATRICK

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/27/2014 at 14:37:08

August 20, 1930 --- September 23, 2014

Charles Virgil Branstetter was the youngest of eight children born on August 20, 1930 to Virgil and Ada (McAfee) Branstetter in Eagle Grove, Iowa. He attended grade school in Sutherland, Iowa and played football and basketball at Milford High School where he graduated with the Class of 1948. He was voted most valuable player in both football and basketball during his college career at Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa, where he received his bachelor’s degree.

On August 26, 1951, he was united in marriage to Betty McKinstrey. They became parents to two children: Susan and Jeff. Charles taught and coached at Gilmore City, Iowa, Belmond, Iowa, and finally settled in Harlan where he taught at the middle school until his retirement in 1989. He was an avid reader, crossword puzzle solver, loved watching football, and eating the pies that Betty made especially for him. He enjoyed drinking coffee with his coffee group and kept a daily detailed record book of any weather activities, especially sunspots, and any other bits of information he thought were important and needed to be recorded.

He and his friend Emmert Mushrush built a shop which he equipped with anything imaginable and spent many happy hours out there. He had a creative way of fixing things around the house and took great care maintaining his home, cars, and yard, doing it his way. He was a technical advisor whether you asked his opinion or not. He would often scan the skies to observe anything he could see, be it cloud formations, flocks of large birds, falling stars, meteorite showers, or the passing of the space station. His way of teaching was to explain to everyone what he had seen and why it was so.

Charles immensely enjoyed his family getting together for the holidays, birthdays, or other special occasions, and was always happy to spend time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He became a resident of Elm Crest Retirement Community where he died on Tuesday, September 23, 2014, having attained the age of eighty-four years, one month, and three days. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Robert, and sisters Helen Johnson and Rose Blum. He is survived by his wife of sixty-three years Betty Branstetter of Harlan, Iowa; daughter Susan and her husband Robert Schmitz of Panama, Iowa; son Jeff Branstetter and his wife Sara of Omaha, Nebraska; grandchildren: Dan Schmitz and his wife Melissa, Patrick Schmitz, Kate Branstetter, and Joseph Branstetter; great-grandchildren: Masen, Alivia, and Sabre Schmitz; brothers Merle Branstetter and his wife Betty of Punta Gorda, Florida and Leonard Branstetter and his wife Karilyn of Chandler, Arizona; sisters Pearl Powell of Sutherland, Iowa and Ruth Fitzpatrick of Churdan, Iowa; other family members and many friends.

Services
Visitation
Saturday September 27, 2014, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM at Pauley Jones - Harlan, Iowa

Funeral Service
Saturday September 27, 2014, 11:00 AM at Pauley Jones - Harlan, Iowa

http://www.pauleyjones.com/sitemaker/sites/PAULEY1/obit.cgi?user=1420166Branstetter