Herb Kolterman Died Suddenly At His Home

Herb Kolterman, native Blairite and former businessman, died suddenly last Thursday afternoon, victim of a heart attack. The attack occurred at his home at 449 South 22nd Street in Blair.

Mr. Kolterman, who had retired from the operations of the Kolterman Ben Franklin store, in Blair, several years ago, had been in excellent health and had had no history of heart problems. Death came at 4:20 p.m. He had taken a nap following his noon lunch, had arisen and gone out-of-doors where he was attempting to break a small area of ice near the garage door. He had been at work about ten minutes, reportedly, when the attack occurred.

A neighbor, Ron Beebe, noticed him lying on the driveway. The family was notified and the Blair Rescue Squad was called, but attempts to revive him were to no avail.

Herb, 59, was born in Blair January 5, 1918, the son of Mr. and Mrs. L F. Kolterman. The Koltermans and their forbearers date back to the days of the founding of Blair.

Herb grew up in Blair at the family home on west Lincoln street. He graduated from Blair High School in 1935 and then attended Dana College for two years.

Following his work at Dana he was the manager of a Butler Brothers variety store in Iowa for a brief period and then, in 1938 moved to Humboldt, Nebraska, to manage a store. It was at Humboldt that he met Marcile Prater, to whom he was married on May 4th, 1941.

In January 1942 the couple moved to Bismarck, North Dakota where he became an Associate Manager of a Scott store.

At the outbreak of World War II he moved to Omaha where he went to work for the Martin Bomber Plant as his part of the war effort.

At the close of the war, in 1945, he purchased an interest in the Blair Ben Franklin store which at that time was operated by his father. He expanded his interest in the store throughout the years.

During his years in business, Herb was active in many civic affairs. He was consistently a member of the Blair Chamber of Commerce and worked on many committees sponsoring local activities.

In August, 1967, he purchased the Bailey Store in Tekamah which is now the Kolterman Ben Franklin Store. A son, Brian, is now operating the Tekamah store in conjunction with the Blair Store.

Herb was a member of the Blair Rotary Club & served as President of the organization during the year 1966.

He was a Master Mason, being a member of Washington Lodge No. 21 at Blair.

At the time of his death, he was a Deacon of the Congregational Church, of Blair. He had been a member of the church for many years and had served a number of times in various official capacities.

He retired from active operation of the Blair store about three years ago. His son, Brian, is now operating the business.

He is survived by his wife, Marcile and by two sons and two daughters.

The sons are Brian and Joel, both of Blair. The daughters are: Mrs. Dennis Kuhr (Kristin) of Manhattan, Kansas, and Mrs. Norman Barr (Karen) of Tekamah. There are three grandchildren.

A brother, Fred, Sr. resides at Wahoo, Nebraska, and another brother, Carl, lives at San Jose, California.

In addition he leaves a host of friends and relatives.

His step-mother, Mrs. Irene Kolterman, lives in the family home at 2929 Lincoln street.

Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at the Congregational Church with the Rev. John Fritzmeier conducting the service. The Bendorf Funeral Home was in charge of the services.

Pallbearers were Mike Christopher, Martin Kuhr, Raymond Crom, Gerald Uecker, Charles Botos and Edwin Jipp. The honorary pallbearers, J. Hilton Rhoades, J. Merton Kuhr, Jess Money, Wayne Anderson, Duane Harris, Wilfred Stork, Gordon Vinton, Keith Vinton, Peter Stricklett and Ray Hansen.

The body will be cremated and interment of the ashes will be made in the Blair Cemetery at a date to be announced.

It has been suggested that memorials be given to the Congregational Church or the “Jaws Of Life” fund of the Blair Rescue Squad.

Note: Since the actual death date was not given, the news article date was used.