Kenneth Edward Kartman

Kenneth E. Kartman (Sr.), age 89, surrounded by his wife and family, entered into eternal life with his Lord and Savior on August 13, 2025.

He was born at the Kartman family home in Port Wing, Wisconsin on a cold winter night, January 17, 1936 to Elsie Alice (Vanag) Kartman and Harold Kenneth Kartman.

Young Kenny spent his “South Shore Elementary” years living on the family farm on White Birch Road in Port Wing. In the winter, prior to riding the horse-drawn sleigh (school bus) to school every morning, it was his job to fire up the wood-stove in order to reheat their small house and also to melt the potable water that had frozen solid overnight. As he grew, he could most often be found fishing the Flag River for trout, or Bibon Lake (the slough) for northern pike. He also loved to deer and/or bird hunt, swim at Twin Falls, or in Lake Superior …or simply run around town, or ride bikes to the quarry with his good friend, Richard (Dickie) Jensen. He also enjoyed playing league baseball in and around all the nearby villages.

During Ken’s teenage years, his family (father Harold, mother Elsie, sister Barbara …and Ken himself) moved to Chicago where Harold took a job at The Proctor and Gamble Company. Ken’s mother passed away just a few years after moving and Harold would then meet and marry Emily (Tamsen) Kartman. Ken would look forward to returning to Port Wing to spend each summer with his grandparents, Victor and Augusta Kartman, whom he missed and loved dearly. As summer ended, he would return to Chicago to attend school and eventually graduate from Waller High in 1953.

After school, Ken enrolled in the United States Navy and spent 4 years as a Machinist’s Mate on the USS Wyandotte. He loved his time in the Navy where he finally got to the chance to “see the world” …with the highlight of his career being that he was a part of “Operation Deep Freeze” with Admiral Richard Byrd in 1955-56, where they established the first permanent U.S. Antarctic bases.

Ken had met the love of his life, Elizabeth (Betty) Marie Wagner, while still in high school and the couple were married on April 30, 1955. They celebrated their 70-year anniversary earlier this spring.

Following his commitment to the Navy, he applied his boiler engineering skills at The Proctor and Gamble Company in Chicago, while living in North Lake, Illinois. He and Betty had three children at this time (Karen, Ken Jr., and Lynn), but moved the family to Menomonie, Wisconsin when he took a position at the Stout State (UW-Stout) Heating Plant.

Ken and Betty added one more child to their family (daughter, Lori), and continued to raise their family and live in Menomonie until his retirement from Stout in 1998.

Over the years, he met and made many new friends and loved spending time with his family, friends, and neighbors.

After all the children grew up and started families of their own, Ken and Betty built their retirement home and moved southwest to Ivins, Utah …in the beautiful “Red Mountain” area.

Ken is survived by his wife, Betty Kartman; daughter, Karen (Chris) Rzeszutek; son, Ken (Heidi) Kartman; daughter, Lynn (Carl) Norloff; and daughter, Lori Awad. He is also survived by his 12 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren (to date).

He was preceded in death by his mother, Elsie; father, Harold; step-mother, Emily; and sister, Barbara (Charles) Luetz.

John 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”

John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am”