Obituary: Carl Sieve

Beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather -- Carl Herman Sieve of Northfield, formerly of Alexandria and Wilmont, departed from us on February 10, 2013.

Carl was born on August 20, 1924, near Reading, Minnesota, to Clemens and Catherine (Rosener) Sieve, youngest in a sprawling family of 13 siblings. He grew up on the farm during the depths of the Great Depression. He graduated from Worthington High School (class of ’42), the first in his family to do so. He attended Worthington Junior College before enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1944. He served in the SeaBees and aboard the U.S.S. Tomich. He was honorably discharged in 1946. He studied autobody repair at Dunwoody and Wahpeton College. On June 30, 1949, he married Irene Slater in Our Lady of Good Counsel church in a ceremony presided over by Father Urban Buchheit. Carl and Irene were married for 63 years and were blessed with five children.

Carl owned the Wilmont Body Shop and was a rural letter carrier and a farmer until he retired in 1986. He took great pride in his skill and craft of removing dents, welding and flawlessly painting cars. He drove his mail route faithfully through the heat of summer and the blizzards of winter. Throughout his life he thought of himself as a farmer and in the mid-1960’s began farming. He loved everything about farming; the land and the planting, cultivating and harvest.

Following retirement he and Irene moved to their Lake Latoka home at Alexandria where they enjoyed their community of friends and a carefree lifestyle. Carl greatly enjoyed the outdoors, hunting, fishing and archery. He was a craftsman and built his own recurve bows and made his own arrows. When he retired he became a runner, and by his estimate ran 38,000 miles. In Alexandria, many will remember him for running daily, summer and winter, to and from church. He ran numerous races and often was first in his age class. He enthusiastically took up golf and often ran the golf course from tee to hole to tee. In his seventies, again taking up his skill in auto body repair, he restored a 1931 Ford Model A.

He was a devoted husband and father. Most of all he loved Irene, his beloved spouse and partner.

He is survived by sons, Jeffrey (Susie), New Ulm, and Michael (Juli), Houston, Minnesota; daughters Laurie Sieve and Amy Sieve (Jerry Johnson); Northfield; 12 grandchildren; and one great grandchild. He was preceded in death by his wife Irene; his parents; son Timothy; and brothers and sisters, George, Rose, Louis, August, John, Leonard, Bill, Ann, Christine, Larry, Laura, Vic and Clem. Following his wishes, his body is loaned to Mayo Clinic for research and study. A Mass of Christian Burial will be 11 a.m. Saturday, March 2, at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, followed by internment at Fort Snelling at a later date.

The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to Minnesota Veterans Wildlife Area (Carl Sieve), c/o Pheasants Forever, 1783 Buerkle Circle, St. Paul, MN 55110; or via phone at 1-877-773-2070.

Tags: obituaries, sieve

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