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Cremation rites have been accorded. A service for Carl and his wife,
Norma, who died in October, will be at 10:30
a.m. Monday at Fricke-Calvert-Schrader Funeral Home
in Lincoln, with the Rev. John Johnson officiating.
Visitation will be 9-10:30 a.m.
Burial will be in
Zion Cemetery. Military rites will be conducted by
American Legion Post 263.
Mr. Donath put his military training as a
telephone lineman to work in 1946 for the Illinois
Commercial Telephone Co., which later became General
Telephone Co., or GTE. He retired in 1982 after 37
years with the company.
He served in the Army Signal Corps in World War
II.
He was born Dec. 17, 1923, in Lincoln, at the
home of his parents, John H. and Louise Wietelmann
Donath. He married Norma J. Herberger on April 22,
1950, at the home of her parents, Herbert H. and
Helen A. Herberger. His wife died Oct. 14, 2010.
He is survived by a daughter, Judy Donath, of
Springfield; one sister, Stella (and Leo) Pevsner of
Chicago; and several nieces and nephews.
He was also preceded in death by two brothers,
John W. Donath and Donald E. Donath, and two
sisters, Josephine (and Myron) Wolf and Florence
(and Fred) Wolf.
Carl was a lifelong member of Zion Lutheran
Church and served as an usher there for over 40
years. He also was a member of the American Legion
Post 263.
With the telephone company in the winter of
1947-1948, he worked 17 days straight after a sleet
storm. In those days, the work of digging holes,
setting poles and stringing wires was all done by
hand. Carl had an easygoing, yet conscientious way
of handling the various positions he held with GTE.
The job he enjoyed the most was record keeper, a
position that assigned phone numbers and made
assignments for new installations. His favorite
project was being the lead installer of the phone
system at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital when
it opened in 1954. |
An avid golfer after he retired, Carl played most of
the courses of central Illinois. He got a
hole-in-one at the Elks Country Club in Lincoln on
Oct. 12, 1989, but his favorite course was in LeRoy,
as they had the best cheeseburgers. He also enjoyed
traveling with his wife and rooting for his favorite
baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals.
A devoted husband and father, he was also a
talented handyman who shared those skills to help
others.
A lifelong resident of Lincoln, he graduated from
Lincoln Community High School in 1941.
Tall for his generation at 6-foot 7, Carl had
nicknames of "High Pockets," "Shorty," "Slim," "Too
Tall" and "Two Story."
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that
memorials be made to Zion Lutheran Church in
Lincoln, the flower garden fund at St. Clara's Manor
or Senior Services of Central Illinois in
Springfield.
Click here to send a note of condolence to the
Donath family. |
