Kurt Nolden

Kurt Nolden, age 88, of Tremont Illinois formerly of Sun City Center Florida, died peacefully at home with his wife and surrounded by family on September 16, 2024.  He was born September 23, 1935 in Hilden, Germany. 

Surviving him are his wife Elfi Nolden, two sons, three daughters, 13 grandchildren, and 11 great grandchildren. 

Kurt emigrated to the United States at the age of 19 to explore more opportunity than he had in his home country at that time.  He proudly became a U.S. Citizen in 1959. 

Kurt retired in 1998 as Vice President of Manufacturing for Champion Pneumatic in Princeton, IL after a long career in manufacturing and technology.  He was a proud veteran of the U.S. Army and served with the U.S. Marine Corps in the active war zones in Viet Nam.  He retired to Florida where he enjoyed playing golf, for the comradery not necessarily the score. 

Next to his wife of 33 years, Kurt’s next love was singing.  He was an active member of his Redeemer’s Lutheran Church choir in Sun City Center, providing many solos for many occasions.  He was also very proud of his German heritage taking leadership in several German American Societies over his entire adult life.  Many of those clubs included choruses, including the Rheinischer Gesang Verein which performed internationally.  And he also was a founding member of German American Operetta Group in Chicago where he was a soloist and performed with the love of his life in many moving duets. 

There is of course much more that does not fit here, but he lived life to the fullest and traveled extensively seeing countless places in this wonderful world and shared stories from riding a camel in Marrakesh, Morocco, to Karneval in the Rheinland, to the nightlife in Hong Kong, to the tropics in Guam, to numerous cruises, to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, to fighting a bull in the Canary Islands.  One of his life dreams was to experience the south seas, and he and Elfi accomplished this by visiting Tahiti and Bora Bora of the South Sea Islands.  He will be missed and remembered by too many friends to count and his family. 

A memorial service will be at 11:00 am Friday, September 27, 2024 at Tremont United Methodist Church.  His son, Pastor Paul Nolden will officiate.  There will be no visitation.  Davis-Oswald Funeral Home in Tremont is handling the arrangements.

Kurt’s family thanks both OSF Hospice in Peoria, Illinois and Lifepath Hospice of Ruskin, Florida. 

Memorials may be made to OSF Hospice  2265 Altorfer Dr. Peoria, IL  61615 or Life Path Hospice  3723 Upper Creek Dr. Ruskin, FL  33573.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Kurt Nolden, please visit our floral store.