St. Clair County Obits

OTTO ALBERT GERNANT

Clinton Daily News
21 October 2001

Funeral services are scheduled Thursday, Oct. 25 at 10 a.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Powell for Otto Albert Gernant, who died peacefully at the Powell Nursing Home Sunday, Oct. 21. Mr. Gernant, 86, had been a resident of the nursing home for the last five months.
He was born March 11, 1915, in Appleton City, Mo., a son of Anna (Springer) Gernant and Theodore Gernant. He was baptized April 4, 1915, at Trinity Lutheran Church and reaffirmed his baptismal vow with the rite of confirmation on May 5, 1929, and was a life-long member of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. He loved his Lord and the Church.
In the late 1930s, Otto came West to find work during the Great Depression. He worked for the Mayland Ranch on Emblem Bench for many years.
During World War II, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1941 to 1946. On June 23, 1946, he and Doris Hollatz were married in Garner, Iowa.
In 1951, Otto and his brothers started farming on Emblem Bench. He liked working with the land and often talked fondly of Emblem and the surrounding mountains. He continued farming until he retired in 1982, and he and Doris moved to Powell.
After his retirement, he could be seen traveling to Emblem to drive tractor for his sons or to the livestock sales in the area. These were two of his greatest enjoyments in his later years.
While he was at Emblem, he served on the Emblem Bench Canal Board, the Big Horn REA Board, the Emblem School Board and Zion Lutheran Church Board.
He is survived by his wife, Doris, of the family home; two sons, Howard Gernant and wife Carol and DuWayne Gernant and wife Kerry, both of Emblem; two daughters, Kathleen Arrell and husband Sam of Denver, Colo., and Fern McLaughlin and husband Richie of Tucson, Ariz.; two brothers, John Gernant of Worland and Elmer Gernant and wife Pete of Greybull; one sister, Edith Gernant of Kansas City, Mo.; and seven grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, four brothers and two sisters.
Visitation at Miratsky-Easton Funeral Home will be Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. and from 9 until time of service on Thursday. Interment will be in the Emblem Cemetery.
Should friends desire, memorials may be made to Immanuel Lutheran Church, Powell.