Colleen J. Ketelsen

Colleen Joy Ketelsen was born September 3, 1935, at rural Charter Oak, Iowa, the daughter of George and Ida Quandt. She passed away Monday, May 8, 2017, at Bergen Mercy Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, at the age of eighty-one.
Colleen was baptized into Christ September 22, 1935, at St. John Lutheran Church in Charter Oak and was confirmed there on April 2, 1950. She grew up on the family farm west of Charter Oak and received her education at country school No. 9, St. John’s Lutheran School and graduated from Charter Oak High School with the class of 1954.
On June 6, 1954, she was united in marriage to Henry “Hank” Ketelsen at St. John Lutheran Church in Charter Oak by Rev. W.P. Schroeder. They were blessed with the birth of one son, Keith.
She and Hank farmed until 1964 when they moved into Charter Oak. Colleen began her employment at Butler Grocery and in January of 1958, she began working at Larson Grocery until 1967 followed by Ken’s Grocery for a short time. She was also the bookkeeper for Ketelsen Oil Co. and a teachers aide at St. John’s Lutheran School. In 1978, she worked for the ASCS in Denison for a year but was originally part-time for one month, subsequently working as a bookkeeper for Charter Oak Grain & Feed, Inc. and Charter Oak Ag Supply, retiring in 2006.
Colleen and Hank loved to travel especially to Hawaii and Phoenix and she was a collector of jewel tea dishes and Charter Oak memorabilia. She was a life-long member of St. John Lutheran Church in Charter Oak.
Preceding her in death were her parents; her husband, Hank in 2015; and two infant sons. Survivors include: her son, Keith; two grandchildren, Emily and her husband, Jeff, and Adam; one brother, Glen and his wife, Geraldine ; other relatives and friends.