- Date Of Birth: March 12, 1928
- Date Of Death: March 3, 2017
- State: New Mexico
IDA LILLIE WALTER CARSTENS, 88, a lifelong resident of Animas, passed away Friday, March 3, 2017, at her home in Animas.
Ida was born March 12, 1928, to Leivon Kerr and Mattie Porter Kerr just east of the old Kerr Cattle Company Headquarters. She grew up on a homestead of the Kerr Cattle Company and later moved to Lordsburg where she attended school graduating on May 16, 1946. After graduation, she went to work for The Department of Public Welfare,
Ida met James Russell (Rusty) Walter at a Foot and Fiddle dance in Animas. They were married on May 3, 1947. She drove a school bus for the Animas School District for 29 years and worked in the school cafeteria for 18 of those 29 years. She was always instrumental in youth groups, the community, and the church. Ida was an excellent seamstress and was a 4-H leader for over 30 years. She always loved music, especially the fiddle, but most of all she cherished the title of “Grandma”.
Rusty preceded her in death on June 19, 1995, and Ida remarried on October 23, 1999, to James Carstens, who she met at a fiddle contest in Safford, Arizona. They moved to Montana where she took up quilting and eventually came back to live in Safford. They lived in Safford until they moved back to the L Bar Ranch in December 2016. Grandma Ida loved her family, and her Jesus, and always made sure that she and her family attended church.
Ida is survived by her husband, Jim Carstens, son Jim Walter and wife Jeanette, son Richard Walter and wife Nyla, daughter Beth Cox; 5 grandchildren, Johnny Russell and wife Kelly, Russell Walter and wife Taysha, Otho Cox, Monty Cox, and Dawna and husband Ryan Guevara, and 2 great-grandchildren, Maddie and Jimmy.
