Charles Gehrke

Charles Ambrose Gehrke, 93, passed away on Saturday, May 25, 2024 at the Aneta Parkview Health Center.  He was born in Rugh Township near Aneta, ND, on December 1, 1930, to Julius Gehrke and Hanna Sofie (Hillesland) Gehrke.  Charles attended grade school at Rugh No. 2 and graduated from Aneta High School in 1948.

When Charles was very young, he saw his first airplane at a picnic and told his mother it looked like a wagon with a windmill.  Charles got his first airplane ride at age six with Bruce Wright in Aneta, ND.  He took flying lessons from a high school teacher, Leroy Holen, who had been a B-24 pilot in WWII.  He soloed an Aeronca Champion in 1948 in Mayville, ND and was signed off by Milton LaDue.  He then attended Bell Airport Aviation School in Devils Lake, ND, owned by Dan Wakefield and completed his private license.  Next, he attended the ‘Vincent School of Aeronautics’ under Vince Buraas, Northwood, ND, where he achieved his Commercial Pilot license.  He eventually achieved his Airframe Powerplant (A&P) Mechanic license in Bethany, OK, in 1997, so he could rebuild planes.

Charles started doing road construction in 1950, as well as farming in Nelson County, North of Aneta, where he took over management in 1956.  He also started aerial crop spraying in 1956 where he dusted cotton in Mississippi and Alabama, sprayed bugs in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas and herbicide in Minnesota, ND and SD.  In 1958, he helped Vince Buraas spray 73,000 acres of grasshoppers in CO.  They started with six Stearman bi-planes and ended with five.

Charles married Helen Hanson, rural Kloten, in 1960 at Our Saviors Lutheran Church.  They raised three daughters, Stephanie, Patricia, and Janelle

Charles had aviation in his blood as his grandmother, Emma Messerschmitt, was a cousin to the famous German airplane designer, Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt.

Over the years Charles owned many personal aircraft including a Taylorcraft, he purchased in 1948, a Stinson, a Stearman, a Cessna 180, Aeronca Champ, Cessna 150, Cessna 172, and he rebuilt a 1946 J3 Cub he hauled home in his pickup box.  He said, ‘I liked them all, but the Cessna 180 is the best!’  During the winters of 1949-51, with all country roads blocked by snow, Charles flew his Taylorcraft with skis to deliver milk and cream to town and delivered groceries, mail and supplies to snowbound people as well as flew some pregnant women to the hospital.  His first 1,000 hours of flying were entirely on skis.  He got pretty good at air dropping mail, once putting it on a haystack while a farmer was hauling hay.  His private airstrip went by the name ‘Ricketyback Field.’

During his career as a pilot, road contractor and farmer, Charles worked on the Fort Randall Dam near Pickstown, SD, in 1949.  He was required to do heavy welding, something he enjoyed and did right out of high school.  He became known as ‘that man who can fix anything,’ and his farm was a beehive of activity as neighbors gathered to visit and have Charles weld something back together.  He also enjoyed a bit of inventing and engineering, most notably, a drill transport system and the electric spits, injectors, and a 50-gallon coffeepot made out of a water heater, used at the annual Aneta Turkey BBQ.  He also collaborated with Jerry Hamlin on designing and welding the metal turkey sculpture that adorns the park entrance (nicknamed the ‘Gehrke Turkey’).

Charles was a Nelson County Commissioner for 30 years and retired in 1998 to rebuild airplanes and old cars.  He was a member of the Sundahl Lutheran Church where he served on the church council, member of the Aneta Booster Club, the Experimental Aircraft Association, and Silent Hill Cemetery Association.

Grateful to call him Dad and Grandpa are his daughters Stephanie (Randy) Engberg (Grand Prairie, TX), Patricia Wiest (Herreid, SD), and Janelle Gehrke (Bondurant, IA).  Grandchildren Nicholas (Prita), Brandon, and Hannah Engberg, Adam, Luke (Aubriauna), and Mallory Wiest, and Nyanti and Olivia Gehrke.  He is survived by sisters Juliet Aslakson (Aneta) and Irene Halverson (Phoenix), sisters-in-law Dorothy Gehrke (Roseau), Bonnie Gehrke (Mayville), Phyllis Trostad (Cooperstown), and Gretchen Hanson (Salt Lake City).

He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Helen, his son-in-law Grant Wiest, brothers Earl Gehrke and Gene Gehrke, brothers-in-law Norman Aslakson, David Halverson, Roger Hanson, Orvin Hanson, Richard Trostad, sister-in-law Marjorie Hanson.

Service will be held at Sundahl Lutheran Church at 10:30am on Friday, May 31, 2024.

The burial will take place at Silent Hill Cemetery at a later date.

The family requests memorials be given to the Aneta Parkview Center or Silent Hill Cemetery Association.

***THE SERVICE WILL BE LIVESTREAMED.  THE DIRECT LINK FOR THE FACEBOOK PAGE IS: https://www.facebook.com/anetalutheranchurches

OR SEARCH FOR:  Sundahl and Ottawa Lutheran Church.