Ernest Joseph Karch, Sr., 95, Laramie, died Wednesday, December 21, 2016, at Laramie Care Center, Laramie, Wyoming.

He was born October 30, 1921, in Kooi, Wyoming, the son of Josef Anton Karch and Karolina Bronizlawa Waszut of Istebna, Poland. Ernest was brought up on a farm above an oxbow in the Tongue River in Sheridan County, Wyoming. He attended elementary school in Monarch, Wyoming.

Ernest and Margaret Jean Hutchison were married in Casper, Wyoming, on July 18, 1953.

Graduating from Sheridan High School in 1938, then enlisting in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at age 16, Ernest drove logging trucks and helped build dams, lookout towers, and campgrounds in northern Wyoming.

On winning a scholarship to the University of Wyoming in 1940, Ernest enrolled in the mechanical engineering program; in 1943 Karch was commissioned ensign in the United States Navy. He entered the flight program, flying transport aircraft and patrol bombers in the Pacific theater. When World War II ended, he made the Navy his career, attending Naval Intelligence School and subsequently language school at the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California. Ernest served as an aviator, intelligence officer, and official translator in both Russian and German languages until his retirement at the rank of lieutenant commander in July 1964. Over the course of his service, Karch was stationed in California; Texas; Georgia; Florida; Panama; Hawaii; Heidelberg; Berlin; Rhode Island; Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Keflavik, Iceland; and Reykjavik, Iceland. Military decorations include the American Theater ribbon, Pacific Theater ribbon, World War II Victory ribbon, Navy Occupation Korean Service ribbon, and the National Defense ribbon. In 1961, Karch earned a bachelor of science in military history at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.

After retiring from military service, he won his master of education in secondary education; in 1971, Ernest achieved the educational specialist degree in curriculum and instruction, University of Wyoming. Ernest's career as an instructor of social studies in Albany County School District #1 concluded upon his retirement in 1980.

Karch was a keen outdoor sportsman who shared a love of adventure with his grandchildren, teaching them fishing, riflery, and pyrotechnics. Into his eighties, Ernest enjoyed taking the grandchildren and his dogs on camping and hiking trips.

He was an instructor in the AARP Fifty-Five Alive Driver Safety Course, and he taught his grandsons to drive responsibly at early ages.

Ernest was a lifelong student of military history and a devotee of both classical and modern poetry; Karch was also a skilled amateur photographer. Karch was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa Delta Pi, the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was an honorary life member of the Knights of Columbus and was a member of Toastmasters International. In 1963, Karch was the winner of an international Toastmasters speaking championship. Ernest's other awards include the Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation Award, conferred in 1973.

Ernest was preceded in death by his parents and by his sister Helen Bernice Stefanski, granddaughter Elizabeth Powers Karch, wife Margaret Jean Karch, and son Ernest Joseph Karch, Jr.

He is survived by his children, David Ruddell Karch, Las Vegas, Nevada; Marian Karch Stordahl, Laramie, Wyoming; John Charles Karch, Lebanon, Missouri; and Katharine Olga Pollitt, Warner Robins, Georgia. Grandchildren are Kathi Karch Torres, Krista Karch, Aaron Christopher Svare, Geoffrey James Stordahl, Jason Michael Svare, Franziska Gabriele Karch, and Thomas Nelson Karch. Great-grandchildren are Tiffany Karch, Ryan Taylor, Paige Torres, and Aidin Carter Svare. Great-great grandchildren are Wyatt Stoops and Valarie Stoops.

Funeral liturgy will be 10:00 on Saturday, January 7, 2017, St. Paul's Newman Center, Laramie; Rev. Robert Spaulding will preside. Interment will be in Greenhill Cemetery.

Memorials may be sent to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Wyoming.

To send condolences or to sign the online guest book, visit, www.montgomerystryker.com.

The Sheridan Press - Dec. 31, 2016.