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Loren Clifford Gast

1917 - 1996

Loren C. Gast
1917 - 1996

Services for Loren C. Gast, 79, of Garner, who died Thursday, May 2, 1996, at Concord care Center in Garner were held 10:30 a.m., Monday, May 6, at the United Methodist Church in Klemme with Rev. Jerry Robertson as officiant.

Mrs. Mark Tue was organist. Ushers were Calvin Bruggeman and Raymond Schoenwetter.

Casket bearers were Jerry Myers, Doug Fredin, Eugene Zwald, Brian Zwald, Kevin Opheim and Bob Kern.

Graveside military rites were conducted by the Klemme Veterans Ceremonial Unit. Burial was at Concord Township Cemetery in Garner. Visitation was held at the Cataldo Funeral Chapel in Garner.

Loren Clifford Gast, the son of Herman and Meta (Bredlow) Gast, was born February 27, 1917, on a farm near Garner. He received his education at Liberty Township District #8 School, the same school his father had attended. After graduating from Klemme High School in 1935, he attended Morningside College in Sioux City.

January 1, 1943, he married Ruth L. Ridder, the first wedding held in the Liberty Methodist Church west of Klemme. Loren's basic training for the U.S. Army Air Force was at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, MO. After attending the service school of the 75th CTD at Millikin University in Decatur, IL, he was an Altitude Technician in the 35th Altitude Training Unit at San Antonio, TX, in the Aviation Cadet Center. He was also stationed at the Air Base in Rapid City, SD. After his discharge in 1946, he began farming the Gast home farm in Liberty Township. It became a Century Farm in 1984. He was also an agent for FMI and IMT Insurance Companies. His father, Herman Gast and grandfather, William Bredlow, were also agents for the same companies. After retiring from farming and moving into Garner in 1979, he enjoyed woodworking and fishing.

He was an active member of the Liberty Methodist Church and the Klemme United Methodist Church. He was also a member of the Klemme American Legion Post.

He is survived by his wife, Ruth Gast of Garner; a daughter, Kathryn Hefti and her husband, Hal of Baxter, MN; two sons, Doran Gast and his wife, Marilyn of Stillwater, NY, and Eldon Gast and his wife, Clara of rural Garner; five grandchildren, twins Clifford and Curtis Gast, Jed and William Gast and Janessa Hefti; a sister, Lola Fredin of Swaledale; a sister-in-law, Helen Gast of Garner; and a brother-in-law, Ronald Gibbs of Garner.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Kenneth Gast; and two sisters, Mildred Zwald and Lois Gibbs.

source: Garner Leader & Signal, 8 May 1996, page 4, column 1

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