Harold A. Ostring

Harold A. Ostring died Thursday, September 25, 2014 at the Madison County Memorial Hospital in Winterset. He was 86. A celebration of life service will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, September 27 at the First Baptist Church in Lorimor where family will be present to receive friends from 1 to 2 p.m. prior to the service. Burial will be in the Lorimor Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to Samaritan’s Purse (www.samaritanspurse.org) and online condolences may be left for the family at ochiltree.com. Harold Arnold Ostring was born on January 21, 1928, in Lockman, Iowa, to Arnold and Wanda Fern (Christy) Ostring. He graduated from Waukee High School and later served in the United States Army as a staff sergeant. Harold was united in marriage to Darlene Merical on April 5th, 1953, and to this union six children were born. Harold worked at John Deere Des Moines Works for twenty years, retiring in 1990. He has also worked for General Growth Properties Wakonda Village in Des Moines. He collected John Deere items, and enjoyed doing woodworking projects for friends and family. As a teenager, Harold trusted the Lord as his Savior, and all of his life he served in the churches he attended. He will be remembered by his family for calling relatives and singing “Happy Birthday” and he was a good kisser. All this said, he would most wish to be remembered as a devoted husband and loving father and grandfather who loved nothing more than spending time with his family. Harold is survived by his wife, Darlene Ostring of Lorimor, his six children, Stephen (Jo) Ostring of Ankeny; Rebecca Hoening of Lorimor; Mark (Kathleen) Ostring of Woodward; Matthew Ostring of Lorimor; Christine (Andrew) Hansen of Kenosha, WI and Louella (Jeff) Alford of Peru. He is also survived by 9 grandchildren; Lisa (Jace) Bittle, Stephanie Jorgensen, Denise Kuhns, Lucas (Virginia) Ostring, Sara Ostring, Bryce Alford, Ashley Alford, Ava Hansen, and Elise Hansen. He is also survived by 6 great-grandchildren; Zakary Jorgensen, Zena Jorgensen, Trenton Kuhns, Nevaeh Kuhns, Micheal Lynde and Elijah Ostring; and two brothers, Jack (Ann) Ostring of Sacramento, CA; John (Mary) Ostring of Des Moines and a sister-in-law, Betty O’String of Anderson, SC. He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Zola (Bill) Wagner and two brothers, Paul (Laurena) Ostring and Gilbert O’String.