Tauren David Joseph Karstens

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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