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Remembering Opa

By Paul Lyons

11/16/2007 10:56:31 PM | Number of Comments: 0 | Add Comments +

Last week my children’s 95 year-old great-grandfather passed away. We took a red-eye to Minneapolis for the funeral. Saw many relatives we haven’t seen in five or ten years. We then made our way to Madison by car. The sky was pitch dark as we drove down Interstate 94. The moon was not going to come out that night. Shooting stars could be seen low on the horizon.

He was buried next to Oma, his first wife. I was honored to be one of the pallbearers both out of the church and out of the hearse to the grave. We placed his casket on a fancy winch that would lower him down to his final resting place. The single worker went about his business like a farmer getting the job done. Below the winch were supports of old timbers, probably pulled from a nearby barn from two centuries ago. He flung them out upon the lawn and for a few minutes we were in a construction site. He knew what he was doing and his performance was not decorous but simply a practical one. He had surely dug the hole and simply was going to get the job done. I think everyone appreciated his efficiency. We all looked down. Many shed a tear. A few handfuls of dirt were tossed upon the splendid casket.

Opa lived a long and beautiful life and I am certainly not the person to write a eulogy but I liked the man and he will be missed. He was a deeply religious man. He loved boats and boating. Nothing satisfied him more than sitting in a big armchair and listening to good music. The music of J.S. Bach would put a smile on his face. He would sit and close his eyes and simply grin. He loved hearing the many musicians within his extended family play, always sitting and simply listening.

During the recent family reunions I always enjoyed sitting with the geezer and listening to his stories. He appreciated an ordinary cup of coffee or tea, often exclaiming, "Oh, that’s a good brew!" He spoke fondly of his early days in the 1930s when he spent time playing his violin and traveling all around the Midwest with a quartet. The quartet this and the quartet that. About the small towns. The Great Depression and the lay of the land. He loved the camaraderie of the family. We would eat and drink a little beer and simply hang out. His laugh was open and deliberate and never forced.

"There are only a few perfect heads in the world…. And the rest have hair!" he would venture and we would all snicker at one of his many timeless jokes.

In the mid-nineties, Opa and Veta, his second wife, took the Amtrak train around the country. They made a stop in San Francisco just as we were moving into a new apartment. We were living out of boxes and the place was pretty much a dump but they rolled into town and stayed in the bedroom upstairs. At night they would read the bible out loud to each other. A few years later he came out again and we celebrated his 90th birthday with a big family reunion in the Redwoods by Santa Cruz.

When I see photos of people from the 1920s, as we were able to do of Opa at the funeral, I am always struck by how different things must have been. From the clothes, the expressions and surroundings, one looks back to another time. During his lifetime of nearly a century he was a bit of a time traveler. I remember a nice portrait of him as a young boy dress in a wool jacket and tie, the cut and fit of the clothes closer to Victorian than our Modern garb. We see him as a young man running track. We see him with anonymous extended family in a living room. Washed out color photos from family get togethers in the 1970s. Photos of recent times. Photos of Opa and Oma. Photos of Opa and Veta. Family portraits.

Opa was a deliberate man. Everything he did he did at his own pace. My father-in-law observed that it took Opa a half hour to eat a hot dog. He was the type of person that would set out his clothes the night before and still take 45 minutes to get dressed in the morning, always appearing from his room dressed with style. Tie just right. Black shoes shined.

There were two services with hymns surely chosen by Opa. No unnecessary ramblings save for the sermon was allowed. His son Tom gave heartfelt final words to each of the services and before the next mad dash to either a car or a plane we ate much improved church lunches. A.V. Kuster. A beautiful man who will be greatly missed.

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Kuster, Arnold Vernon GOLDEN VALLEY, MINN./ MADISON - The Rev. Arnold Kuster, formerly of Madison, died in Golden Valley, Minn., on Friday, Nov. 9, 2007, at the age of 95 years. Arnold was born on June 30, 1912, in Chicago, Ill., to Arthur F. Kuster Sr. and Laura M. A. (nee Langosch) Kuster. He graduated from St. John's College, Winfield, Kan., in 1931 and from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo., in 1935. The Rev. Kuster was ordained a Lutheran minister on March 6, 1938, in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, where he founded Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, serving there until 1942. He served congregations in Jesup, Iowa (1942-44), a joint parish of St. John's, Wanatah, Indiana and First Lutheran, Hanna, Ind. (1944-61) and Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Madison, (1961-1979). After joining the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) in 1961, he served that church body in numerous capacities, most notably on the Board of Missions (1965-71). While Foreign Mission Field Secretary, he was instrumental in beginning the ELS overseas mission program in Lima, Peru. During his years in Madison, Arnold served as education director with the Madison Power Squadron, which honored him with a life membership. On Nov. 10, 1936, he married Leona B. A. Warnke in Chicago. This marriage was blessed with three children. After Leona's death in 1987, on Aug. 5, 1989, he married Veta Deibert in Madison. The Rev. Kuster was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Leona; his second wife, Veta; and his younger brother, Arthur F. Kuster Jr. He is survived by his son, Theodore F. Kuster and his wife, Helga (Teigen); his son, Thomas A. Kuster and his wife, Judy (Maginnis); his daughter, Ruthann Mickelson and her husband, Robert; his step-daughter, Sandra (Deibert) Remde and her husband, Richard; and his step-son, Larry Deibert and his wife, Kathy. He is also survived by 18 grandchildren, 13 step-grandchildren and 41 great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews. A celebration of life musical event will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007, at OUR SAVIOUR'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, 1201 Droster Road, Madison, with visitation one hour prior. Interment will be at the Highland Memory Gardens in Madison. Memorials are suggested to Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, Minn. Gunderson East Funeral and Cremation Centers 5203 Monona Drive (608) 221-5420 www.gundersonfh.com

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