Carl Bernard Kittleson, the son of Charles Edward and Amelia Johnson (Nesset) Kittleson, was born on August 17, 1903 on the Kittleson farm south of St. Ansgar, Mitchell County, Iowa. He was baptized into the Lutheran church on October 3, 1903, at First Lutheran Church in St. Ansgar. He was confirmed at the same church on March 2, 1919. He attended grade school and high school in St. Ansgar.
Following the death of his father in October 1921, Carl and his brother Julius started raising onions on a very small scale, but expanded their business in 1934 when they purchased a few acres of peat land near Fertile, Iowa. As more land became available they added to their vegetable operation until they owned 170 acres. In about 1950 they started raising potatoes and soy beans so they could rotate their crops.
They had specialized storage buildings for both potatoes and onions, on the Kittleson farm, where the products were graded and bagged for wholesale and retail sales. Potatoes were also run through a washer to make them more "pleasing to the customers." -- Customer satisfaction was always important to Carl, especially as he was always seen working at the grading tables.
On January 24, 1943 he married Lola Clara Dieterich at St. Ansgar. Lola was born in Floyd County, Iowa, on November 30, 1912, the daughter of Carl John Dieterich and Bertha Kroneman. The had five children: Charles Edward, Kermit Lee, Karla Jean, Mary Louise, and John Carl.
Carl and Lola and family resided in St. Ansgar, in a house on the northeast corner of 4th and Jefferson, from 1943 until a new house was built on the Kittleson farm in 1960, at which time they moved there.
The two brothers continued to raise vegetables at Fertile, as well as corn on the home farm to be fed to a herd of beef cattle.
On July 12, 1971 a vicious tornado did much damage to the buildings and many trees were taken down in the woods near the Cedar River as well as around the house. Their son Charles, his wife, Karen and daughter Shawn lived in a mobile home in the same yard. The mobile home was completely demolished. No warning had been issued; but luckily Carl's brother Julius saw it coming as he was leaving the yard, so quickly allerted Carl and his family to go to the basement immediately. No one was hurt and rebuilding was completed in time to take care of the fall harvest.
In their later years they moved back to town, and into a house on the same block as the previous one--in the fall of 1988.
Following Carl's retirement, the farm operations have been turned over to Carl's sons Charles and John. In his last years, Carl had problems with cancer and Alzheimers. He passed away at the age of 86, on March 30, 1990, at the Good Samaritan Center in St. Ansgar, and was buried at First Lutheran Cemetery on April 3, 1990.