Vernon Cartner

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. - Vernon Cartner, 91, of Spring Hill, Fla., passed away peacefully on Sept. 28, 2016. He died of kidney disease while receiving excellent care in hospice at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago. He bravely faced this stage in his life with the love and support of his children and their spouses.

Vern was born Feb. 2, 1925, in Chicago. He grew up in a northern suburb as an only child. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army and served in active combat in Italy with the 10th Mountain Division. His service was cut short during an offensive push when he was wounded and sent home on a hospital ship.

After the war, he reluctantly went on a blind date and to his surprise, there was a beautiful woman who later became his wife and love of his life. Vern and Allien were happily married for 65 years and celebrated that wedding anniversary with friends and relatives at Black River Harbor in Michigan. They worked and raised four children, Theodore, Janice, Loretta and Daniel. He was energetic and shared his love of the outdoors. He took them on many excursions, such as camping, canoeing/boating, fishing, skiing (snow and water), ice skating and sledding. These experiences had lasting impressions on their lives.

After a few winter skiing trips and discovering the beauty of the Upper Peninsula in the early 1970s, they moved to the U.P. They bought Rice's Bar in North Ironwood, Mich., where Vern managed the business and shortly afterwards bought an old dairy homestead in North Bessemer, Mich. The farm provided many experiences: Harvesting apples, cherries and grapes and making cider and wine, cross country skiing, hay rides, gatherings with their friends and family, tapping the maples and making syrup, and just enjoying rural life.

Later in life, golf became front and center when they moved to a home on the golf course. The Milakovich tournament was a yearly event he enjoyed first with his father as partner and later with his friend, Andy Hill. His friends were a key element in his life. They all loved to be active and enjoy life together. The last stop after he was no longer able to downhill ski was Spring Hill, where he could keep active and continue to golf. Summers still drew him back to the North until the forests turned brilliant colors, the great migration of birds headed south, and warmer weather beckoned him.

Vern absolutely loved fishing, adventuring into the Boundary Waters and Quetico slowly paddling/trolling for walleye and northerns, hiking into a high alpine lake in Montana to catch cutthroat trout, motoring out to "3 Fish Hole" in Lake Superior for that glimmering lake trout, and jumping from boulder to boulder along a wild river to get to that perfect "hole" below a rapids. Those shimmering beauties were pure joy in his hands.

Vern is survived by his children and daughter- and sons-in-law, Ted and Cindy Cartner, Antioch, Janice Welch and Al Thompson, Ramsay, Mich., Loretta Cartner and Matt Wilkin, Wrenshall, Minn., and Dan Cartner, Watersmeet, Mich .; two grandchildren; one great-grandchild, and one great-great-grandchild.

He unconditionally loved his family with whom he leaves heartfelt memories.

Cremation has taken place, and a luncheon to celebrate his life was attended by family and friends in Antioch on Oct. 1.

Memorial donations are requested to: Take a Vet Fishing, takeavetfishing.org, 413-367-8387.