1916
Ernie
2005
Ernie Kanten
September 17, 1916 — June 3, 2005
Iver Ernie Kanten
September 17, 1916 ~ June 3, 2005
Iver Ernest "Ernie" Kanten was born on his family's farm in Chippewa County on September 17, 1916, to Iver A. and Helga (Satterbak) Kanten. He was baptized and confirmed at Big Bend Lutheran Church. The country school he attended near the Chippewa River is now on display at the Gibbs Farm Museum in St. Paul. When Ernie started school he spoke only Norwegian. He graduated from Milan High School.
On August 31, 1940, he married Gudron (Goody) Jorgenson at her family home near Big Bend, MN. To this union were born five children, Judy, Wayne, Lee, Kay, and Don. Ernie and Goody celebrated 61 years of marriage before she died in 2002. Each year on their anniversary, they had BLT sandwiches because the first time they heard of the sandwich was on their honeymoon.
Ernie worked as an electrician most of his life, first for Hap Haugland at Western Electric in Appleton. During World War II, he was assigned to defense work as an electrician in Grand Island, NE, and Duluth MN. In 1944, he started Kanten Electric in Ortonville. He installed much of the REA wiring in Big Stone County. Focusing mostly on residential wiring, he also had a Hotpoint appliance store for a few years. In 1964, he went to work for the Minnesota State Highway Department, doing electrical work in their buildings state-wide. He retired in 1981.
Ernie was a life-long learner, always eager to find out how something worked. If he read about something, he wanted to try to make it. He read about water-skiing shortly after it was invented and promptly made his own skis. All his children learned to ski on those homemade skis. Ernie also learned to ride a surfboard and a disk pulled behind his boat. And he mastered the art of taking off on this disk from the dock, holding a ladder, newspaper and his inevitable cigar, sitting on the ladder reading the paper, then standing on his head on the ladder, and returning to the dock without getting wet above the knees.
He remodeled the family home at 510 Pacific Avenue several times, built the family cottage at Lovgren's Woodshore, helped to build the cabin on his beloved Kan-Dahl Island in the Canadian wilderness, built two large dollhouses from scratch (one of them a replica of the Pacific Avenue house), and built several pieces of furniture. He learned to bake wonderful breads, made pickles, apple butter and wine, and gardened with vegetables, flowers and fruit trees. He and Goody were master lefse-makers and taught uncounted scores of people how to make the delicious Norwegian treat. Most of the thousands of lefse they made was baked on Ernie's very large hand-constructed grill.
Ernie was preceded in death by his wife Goody, parents Iver and Helga and stepmother Hilda Kanten, sisters Adeline Larson and Shirley Kanten, brother Vernon Kanten, and son-in-law Don Drewicke. He is survived by children Judy (Lance) Beckman of White Salmon, WA, Wayne "Wynn" (MaryJo) Kanten of Richton Park, IL, Lee (Jean) Kanten of Plymouth, MN, Kay (Duane) Scholten of Willmar, MN, and Don (Cheri) Kanten of Champlin, MN; seven grandchildren Kellie Johnsson, Sam Kanten, Shawn Moudry, Kristen Haglund, Jesse Remund, Drew and Grace Kanten; one great-grandson, Ethan Moudry; a brother Gordon Kanten of Minneapolis, a brother-in-law Herb Larsen of Seattle, WA, and nieces and nephews.
September 17, 1916 ~ June 3, 2005
Iver Ernest "Ernie" Kanten was born on his family's farm in Chippewa County on September 17, 1916, to Iver A. and Helga (Satterbak) Kanten. He was baptized and confirmed at Big Bend Lutheran Church. The country school he attended near the Chippewa River is now on display at the Gibbs Farm Museum in St. Paul. When Ernie started school he spoke only Norwegian. He graduated from Milan High School.
On August 31, 1940, he married Gudron (Goody) Jorgenson at her family home near Big Bend, MN. To this union were born five children, Judy, Wayne, Lee, Kay, and Don. Ernie and Goody celebrated 61 years of marriage before she died in 2002. Each year on their anniversary, they had BLT sandwiches because the first time they heard of the sandwich was on their honeymoon.
Ernie worked as an electrician most of his life, first for Hap Haugland at Western Electric in Appleton. During World War II, he was assigned to defense work as an electrician in Grand Island, NE, and Duluth MN. In 1944, he started Kanten Electric in Ortonville. He installed much of the REA wiring in Big Stone County. Focusing mostly on residential wiring, he also had a Hotpoint appliance store for a few years. In 1964, he went to work for the Minnesota State Highway Department, doing electrical work in their buildings state-wide. He retired in 1981.
Ernie was a life-long learner, always eager to find out how something worked. If he read about something, he wanted to try to make it. He read about water-skiing shortly after it was invented and promptly made his own skis. All his children learned to ski on those homemade skis. Ernie also learned to ride a surfboard and a disk pulled behind his boat. And he mastered the art of taking off on this disk from the dock, holding a ladder, newspaper and his inevitable cigar, sitting on the ladder reading the paper, then standing on his head on the ladder, and returning to the dock without getting wet above the knees.
He remodeled the family home at 510 Pacific Avenue several times, built the family cottage at Lovgren's Woodshore, helped to build the cabin on his beloved Kan-Dahl Island in the Canadian wilderness, built two large dollhouses from scratch (one of them a replica of the Pacific Avenue house), and built several pieces of furniture. He learned to bake wonderful breads, made pickles, apple butter and wine, and gardened with vegetables, flowers and fruit trees. He and Goody were master lefse-makers and taught uncounted scores of people how to make the delicious Norwegian treat. Most of the thousands of lefse they made was baked on Ernie's very large hand-constructed grill.
Ernie was preceded in death by his wife Goody, parents Iver and Helga and stepmother Hilda Kanten, sisters Adeline Larson and Shirley Kanten, brother Vernon Kanten, and son-in-law Don Drewicke. He is survived by children Judy (Lance) Beckman of White Salmon, WA, Wayne "Wynn" (MaryJo) Kanten of Richton Park, IL, Lee (Jean) Kanten of Plymouth, MN, Kay (Duane) Scholten of Willmar, MN, and Don (Cheri) Kanten of Champlin, MN; seven grandchildren Kellie Johnsson, Sam Kanten, Shawn Moudry, Kristen Haglund, Jesse Remund, Drew and Grace Kanten; one great-grandson, Ethan Moudry; a brother Gordon Kanten of Minneapolis, a brother-in-law Herb Larsen of Seattle, WA, and nieces and nephews.