Melvin Christner
Melvin L. Christner, 98, rural Burdick, died Jan. 18, 2002, at his home.
Born Feb. 17, 1903, near Lost Springs, he was the son of Arthur and Florence C. (Terry) Christner. He was a lifelong resident of the Lost Springs and Burdick area.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Donahue Funeral Home Chapel, Herington, with the Rev. Lorenzo Jackson officiating. Burial will be in the Lost Springs Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the funeral home.
Christner was a farmer. Early in his life he was a school teacher in a one room school south of Ramona.
He put on cowboy rope shows until he was 90 years old. Christner was the area's Watkins agent for more than 50 years.
He was a member of Burdick United Methodist Church and graduated from Lost Springs High School with the class of 1921.
He was preceded in death by his son Melvin Christner Jr. in 1981; a daughter Madeline "Sue" Christner in 1987; six brothers, Frank, Don, Alfred "Fritz", Walter, Roy, and Simon "Pete" Christner; two sisters, Nancy Fisher and Inez Loquist; and his parents.
Survivors are a daughter Eudora "May" Hebrank of Burdick, a sister Sylvia Meier of Eugene, Ore., four grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
The family requests memorials to the Burdick United Methodist Church or the New Life Church of God, Herington.
