Carl Gustave Gutknecht

Carl Gustave Gutknecht, Avoca, Wisconsin, died at the Riverdale Health Care Center in Muscoda, Wisconsin on July 14, at the age of 92. Carl was born on November 14, 1928, at the family farm in Buena Vista township in Richland County, the youngest of the five children of Emilie (Danz) and Oscar Gutknecht. He graduated from Richland Center High School in 1946 and was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Farm and Industry Short Course. Carl married Evelyn CeCelia Phillips on November 5, 1952, in Norwalk, Wisconsin, at the Evangelical United Brethren Church, where Carl’s uncle, the Reverend Selo Gutknecht officiated. Carl and Evelyn farmed two years next to the Gutknecht family farm in Buena Vista before they purchased a farm near Avoca in 1955. Carl was a dairy, cattle and sheep farmer for many years, though he primarily raised hogs and grew corn, soybeans, hay, wheat, oats, and sweet corn. He was awarded the Master Farmer Award in the 1970s. Carl’s farm was always the tidiest, his machinery the cleanest and the sight of weeds in his field would send him outside to pull them. Carl was an active member of the Avoca United Methodist Church for over 70 years, where he served on various committees. He was elected to serve on the Riverdale School Board, a post he held for many years in the 1970s and ‘80s. Carl was also a member of the Avoca-Pulaski Fire Board. A loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Carl is survived by his wife of 68 years, Evelyn, and children: Gary (Mary) Gutknecht, Richland Center; Baxter (Suanne) Gutknecht, Spring Green; Stephanie (Charlie) DeLong, Clinton; Kathy Gutknecht, Avoca; Karen (Larry) Kachel, Whitewater. Carl was blessed with 11 grandchildren: Kira (Marty) Kennedy, Leah (Marty) Grosse, Shannon (Nick) Hagmann, Wesley (Brittany) Gutknecht, Bridget (Mark) Wozniak, Matt DeLong, Jordan (Emily) DeLong, Pete Koehler, Dan Koehler, Cally (Tylur) Lengfeld, and Jourden Kachel; he had 12 great-grandchildren. Carl was preceded in death by his parents, Oscar and Emilie Gutknecht, brothers Milton and Ora Gutknecht, a sister, Vera Grover and most recently, his sister Helen Ann Smith, who passed the day before Carl. Helen’s funeral will be held on the same day as Carl’s in the morning at the Brown Church in Bear Valley, WI. Funeral Services will be held on Friday, July 16, 2021, at 1:30 PM at the Avoca United Methodist Church in Avoca with visitation from 12:30 PM until the time of services. Burial will follow in the Avoca Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorials can be made to the Avoca United Methodist Church. www.clarymemorialfuneralhome.com .

Carl Gustave Gutknecht

November 14, 1928 - July 14, 2021