Carl Pfeiffer

We are deeply sorry for your loss ~ Gunderson Funeral Home - Stoughton

Uncle Carl's last (ill fated) plane trip was to visit me in Phoenix. What a blessing for me. We went to the Science Museum and I learned a great deal about fossil fuel and alternative energy. We went to a Diamondbacks game and I learned a lot about baseball. The greatest memory, though, is when he talked about Aunt Edith, and how he learned how to love through caring for her. He described those last years with her as the best of his life. Thank you, Uncle Carl, for a life beautifully lived.

Carl had a wonderful gift for sharing stories of this experiences and the times he lived through. If these stories had titles, some might be: The Pencil Sharpener in the Kitchen Closet; No Tapioca Tonight; Summer Working for Uncle Henry, my hardest job; Visitor to the Ice Cream Factory; Oshkosh Pure Ice, Harvesting, Storing, Delivery. Head Cheese for Liz's Boyfriend; Corrupt Principal at Cambria and Basic Training with Scarlett Fever. The Story of the Red Hearts. The tradition of bringing treats to school and sharing them with your classmates on your birthday was observed in Carl's elementary school. Candy bars then were 5 cents each, home baked and decorated cookies and cupcakes were often brought. When Carl was in about 4th grade there was a boy, I think James, who came from a home of very modest means. On his birthday he brought to share a box of Red Hearts. For 5 cents the box contained enough 1/4 inch size cinnamon flavored hearts for each student to have one. Carl recalls James face beaming with love and joy as he went from desk to desk giving a heart to each. Before this happened the teacher spoke to the class in a way that assured there would be no unkind or thoughtless remarks. The way that teacher handled the situation and what he said that day stayed with Carl his whole life..

What joy and inspiration Carl gave me: riding the golf cart down to the pier for happy hour on Nelson Lake, cracking hickory nuts, reading his beautifully written (in form and substance) Christmas messages, observing his deep love of nature (and his exasperation with those squirrels). What an amazing and wonderful man he was. I'm so grateful to have known him.

My sincere and heart felt condolences for the passing of Carl. He was an extraordinary human being in every sense of the word. He lived his faith and shared his love of God with everyone whose life he touched. His memory will live on in my heart. Adriana Jaramillo