Helmuth Ernest Bartels Dies At 88
Helmuth Ernest Bartels, age 88, of Fredericksburg died of natural causes Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, at Ravenwood Specialty Care in Waterloo. Funeral service will be held 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 30, 2016, at Peace United Church of Christ with Rev. Burt Williams presiding. Interment will be 2 p.m. at Cedar Valley Memorial Gardens in Cedar Falls with Doug Courtney, David Brown, Will Newsome, Mark Perkins, Joshua Brown and Tanner Brown serving as pallbearers.Friends may greet the family from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016, at Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home in Fredericksburg. Visitation continues an hour prior to the service on Friday at the church. Online condolences for Helmuth's family may be left hugebackfuneralhome.com (563) 237-6212.Helmuth Ernest Bartels was born June 11, 1928, on the family farm north of Tripoli. The son of Fred and Lydia (Tiedt) Bartels. He attended country school near Frederika. His family moved around a lot when he was a young child. At the age of 13 he left with all of his possessions in the basket on his bicycle and rode to his uncles farm where he worked for him. After a while he moved in with his cousin to farm where he learned life long traits such as milking cows or driving a tractor.He then started work for Rath Packing Company, at the age of 16, where he worked his way up and became a gag boss. At 20, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served as a cook on the U.S.S. Brinkley Bass, a destroyer. Helmuth was mainly stationed in the South Pacific where he saw action in the Korean War.He met the love of his life, Carolyne, at the skating rink after a friend introduced them to each other. The couple was married on May 21, 1955. To this union four daughters were born. They farmed together around Northeast Iowa until 1976. The couple enjoyed dancing, skating and playing cards together.Helmuth will always be remembered as a hard working, fun loving and caring man. He loved being a farmer and was very proud of that. His family meant everything to him and he was so proud of his daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.Helmuth is survived by his wife of 61 years Carolyne of Waterloo; four daughters, Susan (Doug) Courtney of New Bern, North Carolina, Sharon (David) Brown of Newton, Bronnie (Will) Newsome of Beulaville, North Carolina, Karla (Mark) Perkins of San Tan Valley, Arizona; seven grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; one brother, Melvin Bartels of Hudson.He was preceded in death by his parents; one grandson Jaydon Brown; three sisters Gloria Smith, Beatrice Wilson and Grace Bartels.
