Obituary of Ernest H. Balke

Ernest H. Balke Jr., age 78 of 520 2nd. Avenue, Iowa City, died Friday, February 10, 2006, at his home following a lengthy illness. Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, February 14, 2006, at Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City with the Reverend Tim Zimmerman officiating. Burial with military honors will take place at Memory Gardens Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 to 7pm Monday at the funeral home. Memorial donations can be made to the charity of the donor’s choice in Ernest’s memory. Online condolences may be sent for his family through our website @www.gayandciha.com. Mr. Balke was born January 7, 1928 in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Ernest and Lillian (Kubbe) Balke. He attended St. John Lutheran School in Detroit. Following school he worked with the Dailey Circus for the season of 1946. While in Oceola, Iowa he left the circus and enlisted in the United States Army. During his service, he spent one year in Germany, patrolling the Berlin Wall in tanks. Upon his discharge from the Army in 1953, he returned to Iowa where he worked at the Iowa Soldiers Home in Marshalltown. On November 29, 1958, Ernest married Sandra Malmberg in Lone Tree, Iowa, and the couple made their home in Iowa City. For over thirty-one years he worked in Central Sterilization at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, retiring in 1990. Ernest was a member of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Iowa City. His family includes his wife, Sandra; sons, Dwight Allen Balke of Iowa City, Roland Kent Balke and his wife, Sandy of Ehrenberg, AZ, and Norman Lee Balke and his wife, Stephanie of Iowa City and their four children, Molly, Kayla, Alexander, and Breanna; a brother, Donald and a sister, Lois. Special thanks to Tonya, Linda, Fred and Dwight as his caregivers, Jim from Helget Medical Supply, John their mechanic, Darrel their contractor, and their many neighbors who had always been there to listen and help. Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service is caring for his family and services.