Earl Warner age 92 of Walnut Grove, Minnesota passed away Friday, July 21, 2017 at Good Samaritan Care Center in Westbrook. Funeral services were held at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, July 25 at Old Westbrook Lutheran Church, Rural Westbrook. Burial was in the church cemetery. Online condolences may be sent at www.stephensfuneralservice.com. Stephens Funeral Service – Walnut Grove Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.
Earl Lowell Warner was born June 13, 1925 at the family farm in Highwater Township Cottonwood County, Minnesota to Eddie and Helen (Strandberg) Warner. He was baptized and confirmed at Old Westbrook Lutheran Church where he attended every Sunday. He loved to sing the old gospel hymns. He served on various boards and committees at the church and was pleased that the gospel message was preached every Sunday. One of his favorite verses was Ephesians 2:8-9. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” One short line describes Earl; he was a farmer! He attended school at Sunnyside Dist. 37 and immediately after 8th grade at age 15 he rented land from a neighbor and with one old tractor and a team of horses he began his lifelong career. He was always looking for ways to speed up and improve farming methods. In a few years he welded two 2 row corn planters together and made a 4 row planter, one of the first in the neighborhood. One of his greatest joys was having his sons and grandsons to join him in farming. Earl served on the Board of Directors for the PCA (Production Credit Association) in Windom.
On May 1, 1948 he and Anna Margaret Kopperud were married at Old Westbrook Lutheran Church. They rented a farm home nearby where they lived for about 12 years, and their five children were born during those years. During the 1950s Earl began improving the land which he bought in Ann Township where he planted trees and built buildings. When the farm house they lived in burned, a new home was within 6 weeks of being ready. Anna Margaret died in 2012. In November 2012 Earl and Gladys Mathiason were married at Old Westbrook Lutheran Church. Gladys loved to travel, but Earl did not so she spent the last 4-1/2 years laughing at his famous saying “If you’ve seen one mountain you have seen them all.”
Earl is survived by his wife Gladys; sons Leon (Karen) Warner of Glenwood, MN, Greg (Deb) Warner of Walnut Grove, Dean (Lois) Warner of Walnut Grove, Mark (Linda) Warner of Walnut Grove; daughter Marilyn (Tim) Grefe of Butterfield, MN; grandchildren: Amy (Bryan), Sara (Todd), Kelly (Dale), Dan (Tiffany), Lowell (Stacy), Theresa (Brandon), Rita (Mike), Mandy (Brian), Meghann (Dustin), Gretchen, Bill, Katie (Dallis); 23 great-grandchildren: Riley, Brenna, Caden, Nolan, Brantley, Hendrik, Taylor, Jackson, Kenzie, Beckett, Arianna, Grace, Blake, Collin, Addison, Peyton, Ethan, Griffin, Emma, Drew, Reese, Avery and Kaelyn. He is also survived by his sisters Margaret, Marian, and Jane.
He is preceded in death by his parents and wife Anna Margaret, sisters Grace, Ruth, Mildred and Martha, and 2 brothers Howard and Wallace.