Obituary of Armin Victor Bartz

Bartz, Armin V.

A career educator, died on Monday, June 26 at age 92. In his last days, he told his family that he wanted to be remembered as a kind, compassionate man. 

Bartz was born on Nov. 11, 1930 and grew up in the small Minnesota town of Plainview. One summer during the Depression, he said he remembered finding a letter to his dad asking for payment for coal to heat the family house and worrying that the house would be cold the next winter. In high school, he played football and was a small but "scrappy" quarterback. He threw a tight spiral well into his 70s. He did a stint in the army, working as an army paymaster in Colorado. He loved that time -- apparently drank a bit of beer -- and came back to Minnesota with a love of the mountains. He also enjoyed taking his daughters on "mystery trips" on summer evenings where the family found a searchlight and then went out for ice cream. After college, he worked as a teacher with a chunk of his career spent as a guidance counselor at Harding High School. After he retired, he lived quietly in Maplewood with his wife, Rose, where he enjoyed mall power walking and sitting on a lawn chair in the driveway. 

Armin is survived by wife, Rose Bartz; daughters, Diane Bartz, Pam Kalpin and Lisa Adams; stepdaughters, Debbie Tischler and Denise Walton; as well as grandchildren, Megan, Shelby, Eva, A.J. and Rita along with Kelsey and Matt McAllister; as well as three great grandchildren. 

Armin is preceded in death by grandson, Jordan.

A funeral service will be held at 11 AM (10 AM - 11 AM visitation) on Friday, July 7, 2023 at EASTERN HEIGHTS LUTHERAN CHURCH, 616 Ruth Street N., St. Paul, MN 55119. Interment at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery.