Emery E. Carstensen, better known as "Jack" to his family and friends, was born November 1, 1916, on his parents' homestead on the North Fork of the Bad River, west of Philip, to Nels and Ethel (Smith) Carstensen.

He grew up on the homestead and received his elementary education in Haakon County rural school prior to graduating from Philip High School in 1932.  As a young man Jack worked with his parents on the ranch.

Jack was united in marriage to Lucille Faust on June 21, 1939, at St. Columbia Catholic Church in Cottonwood, South Dakota.

They made their home on the Carl Carstensen homestead on the North Fork of the Bad River.  In 1945 they moved a half mile east to the Babcock place, which they purchased and continued to operate all their married life. 

Jack was thought of by many as a "Jack of all Trades and Master of None."  He was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Philip.

Grateful for having shared his life are his wife, Lucille Carstensen of Philip; two sons, Chuck Carstensen and his wife, RuthAnn, of Philip, and Orrin Carstensen and his wife, Cheryl, of Gillette, Wyoming; two daughters, Doris Kraft and her husband, George, of Box Elder, and Arlys Seaton and her husband, Albert, of Mitchell, South Dakota; 18 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; one sister, Helen Griggs of Englewood, Florida; a sister-in-law, Flola Adams of New Underwood; and a host of other relatives and friends.

Jack was preceded in death by his parents; one brother, Amel Carstensen; and one sister, June Elizabeth Newman.

Mass of Christian Burial
Thursday, April 28, 1994
10:00 a.m.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Philip, South Dakota

Celebrant
Father Arnold Kari

Altar Servers
Ross Kroetch - Tadd Moriarty

Lector
Rita O'Connell

Music
Marianne Frein - Organist
Amy Seaton - Soloist
"The Lord's Prayer"
Maureen Palecek, Peggy Palecek,
Rick Palecek, & Keith Emerson - Vocalists

Ushers
Ralph Matz - Mark Coyle

Active Pallbearers
Marvin Eide - Ky Bowen
Bill Gottsleben - Bruce Kroetch
Clyde Schlim - Kieth Smith

Honorary Pallbearers
All relatives and friends in attendance

Interment
Masonic Cemetery
Philip, South Dakota