FAIRMONT — A funeral service for Walter Abel, 95, of Fairmont, Minn., will be 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 7, 2018, at Lakeview Funeral Home Chapel in Fairmont. Interment will be in Fairview Memorial Park, Fairmont. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service Friday at Lakeview Funeral Home.

Walter passed away Monday morning, Dec. 3, 2018, at Lakeview Methodist Health Care Center in Fairmont.

Lakeview Funeral Home of Fairmont is assisting the family with arrangements.

Walter August John Abel was born April 10, 1923, in Tenhassen Township, rural Martin County, Minn., the son of Charles and Elda (Rosenberg) Abel. Walter attended school in Silver Lake, Westford and East Chain townships. Walter was the oldest of eight children, growing up on the family farm in East Chain Township. Here the family worked together milking 8 to 18 cows, raising 70 to 80 hogs a year, along with 200 to 400 hens. Until the mid 1940s, the Abel family farmed with horses, having as many as 15 horses, with the favorite being “Ned.” In 1947, the family moved to a farm in Rolling Green Township that his father, Charles, had purchased.

On Oct. 26, 1951, Walter was united in marriage to Carolyn Piltz at St. Paul’s Evangelical and Reformed Church in Welcome, Minn. They made their first home in Fraser Township where Walter continued to farm. For the first few years of their marriage, Walter continued to use horses for planting corn, haying and other activities. Shortly afterwards, he purchased his first tractor to help with planting and field work. In 1963, Walter and Carolyn moved and rented a farm in another area of Fraser Township where they farmed until purchasing their own farm in 1966. The couple continued to live on the farm after retiring in 1999, until health issues forced them to move to Fairmont in 2013, where they settled into Maplewood Apartments to make their home.

Walter and Carolyn enjoyed nearly 67 years together before Carolyn passed away on Oct. 9, 2018. Walter became a full-time resident at Lakeview Methodist Health Care Center in Fairmont in the fall of 2016, where he passed away at the age of 95 years, seven months and 23 days.

Left to cherish his memory include his foster son, Boyd (Cindy) Schuler of Charleston, S.C.; daughter, Donna Hunt and special friend, Gale Bantz of Amery, Wis.; son, Greg (Mary) Abel of Fairmont, Minn.; grandchildren, Jennifer Schuler, Emily (Kevin) Dunaway, Tyler Hunt, Caleb (Aimee) Abel, Jon Abel, Isaac (Jayme) Abel and Ben Abel; great-grandchildren, Cheyenne and Dakota Abel, Hayes Abel, and James, Jack, and Lauren Larson; brothers and sisters, Arnie Abel, Edwin (Marlene) Abel, Howard (Eileen) Abel, Norman Abel, Evelyn Altman, and Joan Riegel; as well as many nieces, nephews, extended family and friends.

Walter was preceded in death by his wife, Carolyn Abel; parents, Charles and Elda Abel; brother, Irv Abel; brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, Dick Parson, Bud Handevidt, Sue Abel, Rita “Boots” Abel, Faye Abel, John Riegel, Joe Altman, and Bill Koons; and nephews, Michael Abel, Jeff Abel and Larry Handevidt.

www.lakeviewfuneralhome.net

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