March 18, 2024

Jerry Arnold Ehler

Oct. 25, 2016

Jerry Arnold Ehler passed from this life into God’s eternal home Oct. 25, 2016. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2 at the Kellogg United Methodist Church. The family will greet friends from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1 at theWallace Family Funeral Home and Crematory in Newton. Memorials to the Kellogg United Methodist Church, the East Jasper Christian Food Pantry, or Mercy Hospice can be left at the funeral home or at the church on the day of the service. If mailing, please add “Attn: Ehler Family” to the envelope.

The eldest son of Eduard and Esther Grace Elizabeth Brooks Ehler, Jerry was born Jan. 28, 1933, in his maternal grandparents’ home in Kellogg. Jerry grew up on the farm six miles north and two miles west of Kellogg. Electricity was not available in the area until he was in high school in 1948. They had no running water and no plumbing in the home. A wood cooking stove was used to heat water and the kitchen. The refrigerator/freezer, in the winter, was the rain barrel. When ice froze over the top of the barrel they broke a hole in it, dumped out the rest of the water, put the food down in the barrel and covered the barrel to keep out any roaming animals. In the summer when cattle or hogs were butchered, the meat that wasn’t canned was fried, put in a 50 gallon crock in the cellar and lard was poured over the meat to cover it.

Jerry attended one room schools in the area. He went to Willow Grove one mile south of his home, and walked both ways. “One day when just beginning school the Steinburger boys told him he should go south to get home. After walking quite a distance they finally came after him and sent him home in the right direction. They were ornery boys!!!” There were five school houses very near his home — Center, Barrett, Battle Creek, Willow Grove and Rushville. He attended Rushville for a time and Leonard Stecher usually took his daughter Shirley, Phyllis Schrader and Jerry in the mornings but they often walked the three miles home.

When he went to high school at Kellogg, he rode the first school bus that was a panel job. The bus driver was Chester Mason. While in high school he didn’t get to the activities unless his sister Edith wanted to go, then his dad would let Jerry drive the car. These were the only occasions Jerry was allowed to drive the car.

His summers were spent walking pastures and fields cutting out Canadian Thistles. Fall and winter found him devoting a good share of his time trapping mink, beaver, raccoon, fox, skunk and coyotes. This is how he earned enough money to buy his own car.

In 1951, Jerry graduated salutatorian of his class. He farmed with his dad until June 11, 1953, when he was inducted into the United States Army. He took basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri. When he had a few days leave, he rode the train home. After basic, he was stationed at Ft. Hood in Texas where they had to keep an eye out for scorpions, rattlesnakes and copper heads while camping in the field.

He had his car at the base in Texas. One Saturday night he headed for town with three other guys. All of their names were “Jerry.” This really confused the girls.

On June 10, 1955, he received an honorable discharge from the Army and returned to the farm in rural Kellogg, to continue farming with his dad and also began farming for his aunt, Agnes Ehler, who lived on the Ehler home place.

Agnes moved from the farm in 1957, and Jerry remodeled the farm home. At a skating party in Newton that spring, he met Emily Duffield who was teaching at Kellogg. They were married June 26, 1957, at Easton Heights Evangelical United Brethren Church in Des Moines. After their honeymoon to the Northwest and Western areas of the United States, they returned to make their home on the Ehler family farm that became a Century Farm in 1983. In 1962, they bought the Faircloth farm from Ralph (Punch) and Myrtle and later the 80 acres north of it from Merle Benskin.

They had three children, Kathleen, Jerry’s first daughter was born in 1959, Linda in 1961, and Daniel in 1963.

Neighbors helped neighbor in those days and many of his days were spent helping Leonard Stecher, Tommy Schrader and Ben Verwers bale hay, working with cattle or hogs, as well as them coming to help him with those tasks.

Fishing and hunting were his favorite activities and whenever time allowed that’s what he would do. After many summer fishing trips to Pine Lane Resort near Bemidji, Minn., Jerry and Emily bought a cabin on Splithand Lake near Grand Rapids, Minn., and after retirement that’s where they spent their summers. Family and friends knew they were welcome to join them anytime. Jerry enjoyed teaching all who visited how to catch fish and had just as much fun watching others catch fish and cleaning them as catching them himself. But he did take pleasure in the friendly competition with the Hawk family who spent their summers in the cabin next door. He equally enjoyed showing others how to win playing cards when the fishing was over for the night and all the fish were cleaned. Pitch was the card game of choice. Card games and card parties with friends and neighbors were also looked forward to back home in Kellogg.

Left to cherish his memory are his children, Kathy Ehler of Kellogg, Linda (Dean) Porter of Lenexa, Kan., and Dan (Tina) Ehler of Newton; his grandchildren, Madison Porter, Chris Sharp, Anthony (Niki) Sharp, Victoria (Russell) Endris, Jeremy Ehler-Lange; great-grandchildren, Rinoa, Christian and Caroline; brothers, Fred Ehler and Frank (Betty) Ehler of Kellogg; brother in-law, Joe Clark of Grinnell; and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

Jerry’s passing was preceded by his wife Emily in September of 2016; parents, Eduard and Esther; sisters, Edith Clark and Fern in infancy; and sister-in-law, Diane Ehler.