February 27, 1999 ~ May 7, 2020
Tauren David Joseph Karstens, 21, died unexpectedly,
in St. Paul, MN, Thursday, May 7, 2020. He was loved
by so many.
Tauren’s funeral will be held at Living Springs Church in Brandon, SD on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, at 1:00 pm. The funeral will be live-streamed. ( www.livingspringschurch.org Click on the “Watch” button at the top) Close family and friends are welcome to attend if they feel comfortable doing so in light of the current COVID-19 situation. If you plan to attend, masks are encouraged. We will need to keep physical attendance to no more than half of the church’s occupancy limits. Some family and friends will be attending by parking in the parking lot and watching the streaming service.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Feed My Starving Children, The Union Gospel Mission in Sioux Falls, or a memorial may be sent to the Karstens Family, c/o Central Bank in Sioux Falls, SD.
Tauren David Joseph Karstens was born February 27,
1999 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He grew up in the Sioux Falls area. As a very
young child, he would help his mother, Heather, as she volunteered at the
Sertoma Butterfly House. He had learned all about the many different
butterflies, and enjoyed helping guide guests around the flight room. Tauren
also enjoyed spending time at the Sertoma Outdoor Campus. Tauren loved fishing
and kayaking, baking and cooking. His family had a chef’s hat made for him one
year. He was involved in AWANA and 4-H, and a fun but little known fact is that
Tauren had an excellent singing voice. Another favorite hobby throughout his life
was gardening. He had so much fun growing pumpkins and hot peppers for hot
sauce.
Tauren was an incredible young man. He had a keen
sense of humor, a deep thirst for knowledge and such a loving heart. Tauren
gave his life to the Lord at a young age. He chose to be baptized with his
parents at Living Springs Church in 2006, and was confirmed at Living Springs
in 2013.
Tauren was a very compassionate soul. He loved his
family, his friends, and his pets. As a child he helped raise money for those
in poverty in Haiti through the organization Feed My Starving Children. After
moving to Saint Paul, that spirit of compassion continued. He took a bus to
work each day. He would sometimes buy extra McChickens at McDonalds and pass
them out to the homeless on the street on his walk home. Tauren brought food to
and checked on a homeless man under a bridge near his work. He never spoke
about these acts of kindness to bring attention to himself, just mentioning them in conversation to his
mother on the phone, but they wanted to include these stories to ask his family
and friends to please, keep reaching out
and helping people you see in need, in Tauren’s memory.
Tauren is survived by his parents, Brian and Heather
Karstens; siblings, Luke, Alec, Cassia, Elliana, Lilly Karstens and Alexis
Sprecher; grandparents, Lynne Simkins, Daryl and Linda Karstens, Robert
Hallberg; honorary grandparents, Nub and Karon Schmitz, and Harlan and Judy
Hanson; great-grandparents, David and Patricia Lenker and Grant and Harriet
Hallberg; four uncles, Chris (Cyd) Karstens, Matt Karstens, Scott (Amanda)
Hallberg, Mark Hallberg; two aunts, Hallie (Steve) Russell and Laura Hallberg;
eight cousins, Nolan, Adalyn, Evan, Cambry, Covi, Caiya, Benjamin and Henry;
two great-aunts Karla (Wally) Lenker, Cain and Karen (Skip) Fix; two great-uncles
Ken (Cindy) Lenker, and Dan (Jodi) Hallberg. Tauren is also survived by his
father, Douglas Hanson, and aunts, uncles and cousins on the Hanson side.
Tauren was preceded in death by his grandfather.
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