Carl Linna, 88, of Chocolay Township, entered eternal life on Monday afternoon, October 30, 2017 at his daughter’s home in the care of his loving family.
Carl was born April 26, 1929 in North Lake to Mattias Nick and Hilja Sophia (Ranta) Linna and attended North Lake School. He was a veteran of the United States Army, serving two years during the Korean War and being honorably discharged in 1952.
Starting at a young age, he was employed by Cohodas Brothers Fruit Company, as a lumberjack and at the Eagle Mills Pellet Plant where he was active in the union. He met and married Shirley Exford and they moved to California in 1959 where they raised their family until moving back to the UP in 1969. They opened and operated Linna’s Restaurant in Rock, MI and Carl also worked at Bancroft Dairy. He retired from the dairy business after 27 years in the industry.
Mr. Linna was a member of Shiloh Baptist Church, Sands Township, and the Teamsters Union, Central and Western Conferences. In his younger years, he was passionate about lumberjacking and later in life enjoyed woodworking and whittling canes. Carl was an avid reader, loved reading poetry, especially Shakespeare, and also enjoyed the art of telling jokes and working crossword puzzles. Most of all, he cherished time spent with his family.
Carl will be dearly missed by his loving wife of 60 years, Shirley Linna; two sons: Mark Linna of Negaunee and Nick (Noonsang) Linna of Peoria, AZ; two daughters: Valerie (Harold) Jones of Muskegon and Laura Linna of Marquette; ten beloved grandchildren; a brother, Eino Linna of Marquette; two sisters: Nancy Sheppard of Newberry, FL and Ellen Jamison of Centreville, VA; daughter-in-law, Juli (Rolf) Wirtanen; son-in-law, Daniel (Wendy) Kainulainen; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
Funeral services will be held at 11:00 am on Thursday, November 2nd at Shiloh Baptist Church with Pastor Mac Woody officiating. Burial will be in the Negaunee Cemetery. The family will greet relatives and friends for one hour prior to services at the church on Thursday, and also at a lunch reception at the Sands Township Hall immediately following services. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed in Carl’s memory to Shiloh Baptist Church, 664 Dahlstrom Rd., Gwinn, MI 49841.