Lyle "Shorty" Christoffersen

Lyle “Shorty” Emory Christoffersen, the son of Albert and Esther (Mortensen) Christoffersen, was born July 9, 1924, on his parents’ farm near Poplar in Shelby County, Iowa and died March 6, 2018, at the Audubon County Memorial Hospital in Audubon, Iowa at the age of 93 years, 7 months, and 27 days.
Lyle was baptized at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kimballton, Iowa and confirmed as an adult at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Audubon, Iowa. He attended rural school near Defiance, Iowa then graduated from the Defiance High School with the Class of 1940. In 1941, the family moved west of Audubon where Shorty and his father farmed and also started Clover Hill Hybrid Seed Corn Company. Over the years they hired many area teenagers to detassel corn.
On June 23, 1946, he was united in marriage to Dorothy Beermann at Zion Lutheran Church in Denison, Iowa. They were blessed with four children: Diane, Dale, Neal, and Joni. He continued to operate the family farm adding his sons and later his grandson Eric to the family farming business. They grew row crops and raised cattle, hogs, chickens and for 20 years raised purebred Saler Cattle until Shorty retired in 2015.
Shorty was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Audubon, Iowa and of the National Farmers Organization. Shorty enjoyed hunting and fishing, was an avid bowler and for many years sponsored the Clover Hill Bowling Team. In their younger years Shorty and Dorothy enjoyed traveling.
Shorty was preceded in death by his son Dale Christoffersen; an infant son; his parents Albert and Esther; his brother Robert Christoffersen; his brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law: Walter and Leone Beermann, Edward Beermann, Clarence and Alma Denker, Joan Beermann, Irene Boeck, and Mervin Fink.
Survivors include his wife of 71 years, Dorothy Christoffersen of Audubon, Iowa; his children: Diane and husband Jim Westervelt of Council Bluffs, Iowa, Neal and wife Janet Christoffersen of Audubon, Joni and husband Charles Hansen of Audubon; his daughter-in-law Julie Rasmussen of Elk Horn, Iowa; his grandchildren: Clayton and wife Sunny Westervelt of Los Angeles, California, Daniel Westervelt of Fate, Texas, Blaine Westervelt of Council Bluffs, Ann and husband Chad Henrichs of Des Moines, Iowa, Alicea and husband Ben Norton of Omaha, Nebraska, Eric Christoffersen and fiancé Hannah Madsen of Audubon, Greg and wife Rachel Hansen of Audubon, Sara and husband Brad Slater of Audubon, Jenny and husband Adam Peterson of Elkhorn, Nebraska, and Heidi Hansen of Omaha, his great grandchildren: Austin, Blake, Chloe, Mila, Eloise, Anna, Drake, Rylan, Colton, Dane, Grace, Ava, Layne, and George; his sister-in-law Mardell Christoffersen of Audubon; his brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law: Carmen Beermann of Denison, Iowa, Harold Beermann of Denison, Gaylord Boeck of Schleswig, Iowa, Lorena Fink of Loveland, Colorado; nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
The family will be meeting with friends Sunday afternoon March 11, 2018, from 2:30 P.M. until 4:30 P.M. at the Kessler Funeral Home in Audubon, Iowa. Funeral services will be conducted by Pastor Gordon Buchholz on Monday, March 12, 2018, at 10:30 A.M. at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Audubon, Iowa. Interment will be in the Maple Grove Cemetery in Audubon. The casket bearers will be Clayton Westervelt, Daniel Westervelt, Greg Hansen, Blaine Westervelt, Eric Christoffersen, and Dale Wegner.