Funeral services for Louis Henry Carstensen, 93, were held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, October 30, at Concordia Lutheran Church, Lake Park, with Rev. Gerald Gauthier officiating. Interment was in Union Cemetery, Harris, with Turner Funeral Homes & Crematory, Spirit Lake, in charge of arrangements. He died October 27, 2009.
Louis started school in Jackson county at Sioux Valley School on September 1, 1921, and graduated from high school there in 1934. Louie worked for his dad on the farm until 1936. He married Elva Allen on November 20, 1939. To this union three sons were born: Orrin in 1940, Keith in 1943 and Rodger in 1946. All three sons preceded Louis in death.
He was a lifelong member of the Lutheran Church most of which were at Concordia in Lake Park.
Louis worked along with his family in the family locker plant in Lake Park. Louie operated a locker plant for 37 years beginning in 1940 in Harris. In November 1957, he and his wife, Elva, opened a new plant in Lake Park. In 1977 he sold the business to son Orrin and his wife, Sheryl.
As owner/operator Louie began competing in Iowa Meat Processor's ham and bacon competitions winning his first award in 1953. When he retired he had acquired 20-plus awards. In 1972, he won the Governor's Cup for having the most outstanding ham in the State of Iowa. He also won 16 national awards from 1961 to 1972. In 1995, Louie was inducted into the AAMP Cured Meats Hall of Fame. He is the only person from Iowa to receive this award.
Louie was a 50-year member of the Lions Club in Lake Park and then in Hartley.
Survivors are his daughters-in-law: Sheryl Peters and her husband, Ron of Sibley; Beverly Carstensen of Spencer; grandchildren: Matt (Karla) Carstensen of Spencer; Chris (Brenda) Carstensen of Fairmont, Minn.; Leah (Damon) Hintz of Spencer and Carmen (Jimmy) Sorensen of Griswold; great-grandchildren: Jillian Carstensen, Andrea and Adam Carstensen, William Baily and Dawson Carstensen, Kyuss and Miles Hintz and Paris Sorensen; great-great-grandson, Hunter Carstensen; sister-in-law, LaVerle Carstensen of Lakefield, Minn.
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