Karlton Fullenworth, age 66, of Storm Lake, Iowa, died Thursday, October 12, 2006 as a result of an incident on the dredge in the waters of Storm Lake.

Funeral Services for Mr. Fullenworth are scheduled for Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 10:30 a.m. at the Storm Lake United Methodist Church, with Reverend Dr. Beverlee Bell and Reverend David Schumann officiating.  Burial will be in Buena Vista Memorial Park Cemetery in Storm Lake.  The Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake is in charge of the arrangements.

Friends may call from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Monday, October 16, 2006 at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake, where the family will be present from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.  A prayer service is planned at the funeral home at 7:00 p.m. that evening. 

Karlton was born January 11, 1940 at the Porath Hospital in Storm Lake to Karl and Elizabeth (Fuqua) Fullenworth.  He was baptized Easter Sunday in March 1940 by Dr. Joseph Hutchison at the Methodist Church in Storm Lake and later confirmed in the Methodist Church in Marathon. Karlton began his schooling at Sulphur Springs and moved to Marathon in the middle of his first grade year. The rest of his school days were spent at Marathon, where he graduated from high school in 1958.

He went on to further his education, graduating from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture, with a major in farm operation and management in November of 1963. 

In 1964 and 1965, he served in the U.S. Air Force.  In 1964, he received the “Airman of the Month” award and in 1965, received the Certificate of Merit. He received an honorable discharge in 1965.

After the service, he worked as a Farm Business Consultant for the South Central Iowa Farm Business Association.  In late summer of 1967, he returned to this area to help on his parents’ farm due to their poor health.

On August 11, 1968, he married Linda Kay Chambers at the United Methodist Church in Carroll.  The couple made their home on an acreage on the Lakeside blacktop, where they have lived for 38 years.  They often referred to this as “God’s little acres” to each other.  They enjoyed having Chesapeake Bay Retrievers since 1970—Chessy, Julie and Molly.  They kept a 30 year record of their purple martin returns.

Karlton farmed in the Storm Lake area for 34 years, harvesting his last crop in 2001, after the farm land was sold.  He worked part time trucking for Sara Lee and for the last three years, he worked on the dredge.

 In 1996, he was awarded the Quad-States Conservation Awards Program District Farmer Award for Buena Vista County for planting trees, installing terraces and waterways and using conservation tillage practices on the farmland and around his home.

Karlton was very proud of the “sludge bunch”, a group of people who went to Des Moines every month for a year to speak in front of the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) and eventually changed the rules for the application of sludge to farmland for the entire state.

He was a charter board member of the Lake Preservation Association (LPA), a member of the Methodist Church, the American Legion and the Oddfellows.

He enjoyed water skiing and snow skiing in younger years.  He enjoyed constructing things.  He put a basement under their home, built a machine shed, gas shed, tractor cab, had restored a WWII jeep and was planning to start on a truck.  In recent years, he began enjoying the computer, with friend, Tom, always helping and challenging him.

His caring presence will be deeply missed by his wife and all those who knew him.

Left to cherish his memory is his wife of 38 years, Linda Fullenworth of Storm Lake,  brother Paul Fullenworth of Marathon, sister Janice (Darrell) Stockwell of Birmingham; niece Jodi (Roy) Kraft of Goldfield; niece Paula (Doug) Zollars of Bonaporte; nephew Adam (Melinda) Stockwell of Birmingham; nephew Andrew Stockwell of Birmingham; aunt Jean Fullenworth of Storm Lake; cousins: Betty Fullenworth of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Alice (Daniel) Friedrichsen of Holstein, Georgia (Dave) Demers of Storm Lake, Connie (Dean) Demers of Columbus, Nebraska; step-mother-in-law Esther Halverson of Carroll; step-sister-in-law Ann Chambers Nellis of Denver; step-brothers-in-law: Dr. Dick (Susan) and Larry Pascoe of Dallas, Texas.

Karlton was preceded in death by his parents, Karl and A. Elizabeth Fullenworth of Marathon; an infant brother; his parents-in-law Bill Chambers and Fon Pascoe of Carroll; his step-parent-in-law Dr. Paul Pascoe of Carroll; uncles George and Ted Fullenworth of Storm Lake and Sioux City; and aunt Amber Nelson of Bellingham, Washington.