An Easter morning picture taken in Altus, Oklahoma, where we attended a Lutheran church pastored by George Hrbek.
Another reel-to-reel treasure found in a box: audio of the Memorial Service held for my dad on March 4, 1974, at St. John Lutheran Church in Russell, Kan.
My dad’s Feb. 21, 1974, obituary in the Russell Record, copied below, refers to the service, which Lutheran pastor George Hrbek officiated. My dad had met and befriended George Hrbek in Altus, Okla., when dad was stationed at the Air Force base there and George pastored a Lutheran church in the early 1960s.
Pastor Hrbeck, at the time of the service, had been ministering in Ohio for several years to a diverse group of believers. I remember our family visiting the Hrbek family in Chicago in 1968 and feeling the Jesus Revolution through the songs and people around his ministry.
At the Hrbek house in Chicago.
He died in 2023, and his obituary said, “George was a community activist, passionate advocate for racial and economic justice, and preacher of an inclusive, life-affirming faith.”
As much as the circumstances of their lives were in stark contrast, Carl Karst and George Hrbeck shared faith and love for Christ.
In harmony with Easter Sunday, an excerpt from George’s message at the service on March 4, 1974:
“We're just foolish enough to believe that the journey is not the one from life to death, but it is a journey from death to life. We’re foolish enough to believe that because we know the One who made that journey and who has declared to us, “You are in it with me.”
February 21, 1974 - Russell Record - Obituary
Plan Memorial Service for Col. Carl F. Karst
A memorial service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Monday, March 4, at St. John Lutheran Church in Russell for Col. Carl F. Karst, who was recently declared killed in action in South Vietnam. He had been listed as missing in action since Nov. 15, 1968.
Col. Karst was born Oct. 27, 1930 at Galatia, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Karst. He was graduated from Hoisington High School and Kansas State University, Manhattan, receiving his Reserve Officers Training Corps commission and entering the Air Force in May 1954. At KSU he was a member of Beta Sigma Psi fraternity and the Student Council.
He was baptized in God's family as an infant at Immanuel Lutheran Church of Milberger and confirmed his faith as a youth in the same church. He proclaimed Jesus as Lord throughout his life and served Him with humility and joy in his work, his family, and his church.
Col. Karst was stationed at Marana Air Field, Tucson, Arizona, took flight training at San Angelo, Tex., and from there was assigned to Carawell Air Force Base, Ft. Worth, Tex., as a crew member of a B-36 (Strategic Air Comman). He spent eight years at Altus AFB, Okla., where he was aircraft commander of a B-52. He was graduated from Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB in 1967, and received F-4 training at Victorville, Calif. at George AFB.
In January 1968, he left for southeast Asia where he became deputy commander of II Direct Air Support Center at Plieku, South Vietnam. On November 16, 1968, he was flying an O-1F reconnaissance, and failed to return.
In addition to his widow, Ruth Langholz Karst, whom he married in Russell in June 1954, he is survived by three children, Cathy 18, Tom 14, and Douglas 10, all of Manhattan where Mrs. Karst has made her home since 1971; his parents of the home at Galatia; two brothers, Arthur Karst, Galatia, and Leon Karst, Rush Center; and two sisters, Mrs. August Wilhelm, Ellinwood, and Mrs. Paul E. Dumler, Russell.
A memorial fund in his name has been established with the High Flight Foundation to maintain the facility in Colorado used for retreats for the families of men missing in action and prisoners of war. Contributions may be made through the Home State Bank of Russell.
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