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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
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Harlan Ketelsen
HARLAN E. KETELSEN
Cedar Rapids
Harlan Elroy Ketelsen, 92, of Cedar Rapids, died Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke's Hospital, Cedar Rapids. Family will greet friends from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, at Murdoch-Linwood Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Cedar Rapids. Services: 10:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 26, at Concordia Lutheran Church, Cedar Rapids, with visitation one hour before the service, conducted by the Rev. Brad Brown. Burial: Tipton Masonic Cemetery, Tipton.
Survivors include his wife, Marjorie; children, Keith (Pamela) Ketelsen and Susan (Terry) Feravich; five grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and sisters, Hazel Ervin and Mary Lou Voss.
He was preceded in death by his parents; sons, Thomas Ketelsen and Kenneth Ketelsen; and two sisters, Hulda Chapman and Helen Voss.
Harlan was born April 23, 1923, in Morley, Iowa, son of Ludwig and Beulah (Wagner) Ketelsen. He married Marjorie Nagel on Oct. 13, 1942, and they were happily married for 73 years. Harlan was drafted in 1942 and was in the 17th Airborne Unit and the Rock Island Arsenal.
He started a hobby of making crosses and the hobby grew. Harlan made over a quarter of a million crosses and missionaries would come and pick them up. They are all around the world and all made by hand. His goal was to spread the word of God and our beloved Jesus all around the world and he had done it.
Please share a memory of Harlan at www.murdochfuneralhome.com under obituaries.
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