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Milton
Eman Venter
Milton
Eman Venter, 88, of Hastings, NE, died Tuesday July 17, 2007 at Mary Lanning Hospital after a long illness.
Memorial service will be 2:00 p.m. Monday, July 23rd at
the First Presbyterian Church in Hastings. The Reverend
John H.G. Curtiss will officiate.
There will be no visitation. All Faiths Funeral
Home of Grand Island is in charge of arrangements.
Milt was born near Ceresco, NE on
January 9, 1919 to Wayne and Rose (Vanicek) Venter. Milt grew
up in Lincoln, where, known as “Lefty”, he lettered
in baseball at Lincoln High
School and was a lifelong member of the “L
Club” and was a Golden Gloves boxer. He moved with his
family to Sioux City, IA just before his graduation and graduated from Sioux
City Central High
School.
He entered the United States Navy in September of 1941
and was discharged in October of 1945. Milt was stationed at Pearl Harbor, where he played on the Pearl Harbor Base
traveling baseball team. Following his discharge he married
Thelma Linsley in Sioux
City, IA on June 15, 1946. Milt and Thelma
recently celebrated their 61st anniversary.
Milt and Thelma moved to Worthington, Minnesota where he was a sales representative
for the Sioux City Iron Company and later owned and operated the
North Star filling station. All of their five children were
born in Worthington. In 1962
the family moved to Hastings, where he worked as a sales representative
and selling farm implements for the Lindsay Bros. Company. He
retired in 1984 from Lindsay Brothers. Milt was a member of
the Masonic Lodge in Sioux City, IA as well as the Abu-Bekr Shrine Temple, where for many years he was a member of the
Shrine Cycle Patrol which paraded throughout the United States and Canada. He was also a member
of the Elks Lodge, American Legion and VFW.
He was an avid Nebraska football fan who was proud to show
off his “Big Red” room, and was a long-time local captain
of the Husker Beef Club. In Sioux
City he played semi-professional baseball
for the Mann’s Cardinals. While in Worthington, Milt played semi-professional baseball
for the Worthington Cubs, as well as fast pitch softball for the
Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Those left to cherish his memory are his wife, Thelma,
five children and their spouses, Wayne and Kathy Venter of Lincoln,
Dean Venter of Grand Island, Lee and
Michelle Venter of Loveland, CO,
Jacki and Ed Champoux of Omaha and
Diane Mullen of Hastings as
well as nine grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren. He
also leaves behind three sisters, Jodi and Lowell Thoma of Norfolk,
NE, Mildred Roth of Madison, S.D. and
Geraldine Broderick of Madison, S.D.
His parents and a sister Janet preceded him in death.
Memorials will be forwarded to the Shrine Children’s
Hospital transportation fund.
