EBERT, III, Louis V.

The Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona Saturday, October 22, 2011 Louis V. Ebert III died in Prescott, Ariz., on Oct. 18, 2011. He was born on July 2, 1927, to Emilie and Louis V. Ebert Jr., in Rockville Center on Long Island, N.Y. During his early years, he lived in several different cities in New York, West Virginia, Kentucky and Wisconsin. His father, a food chemist, settled in Green Bay, Wis., where Lou graduated from Green Bay's East High School in 1945. He joined the U.S. Navy at the tail end of World War II. After serving in the Navy as seaman first class, he attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison. While a university student, he worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a smokejumper in Idaho during the summers. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he was hired by the U.S. government and traveled around the world using his fluency in Portuguese and Spanish. He lived at various times in Brazil and Columbia in South America, Honduras in Central America and Mozambique and Zambia in Africa. He had three children from his first marriage: Hank, Emilie and Richard. On Nov. 6, 1968, he married Carol Sigl from Eau Claire, Wis. Carol brought three daughters from her first marriage, and she and Lou had one daughter, Barbara. He is remembered fondly by his children for his "splintercat stories" on Sunday drives. After returning from overseas, they lived in Williamsburg, Va., for three years and then retired to Prescott, Ariz., having extensively studied the best places to retire. During his 30 years of retirement, Lou and Carol traveled frequently by motor home through the Southwest, especially the Four Corners area. He particularly loved the books of Tony Hillerman, which influenced his travels. His last big trip was on a cruise up the Amazon River in 2005 with Carol on a riverboat named La Turquesa. Lou was an avid reader and an intellectual. He earned two master's degrees, one from George Washington University, the other from the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., with his thesis on the complications of the Caprivi Strip at the border of Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Rhodesia. Lou is survived by his wife, Carol Ebert; his daughter, Barbara Bruce of Prescott; stepdaughters, Susan Kissel of Prescott, Laurie Ebert of Phoenix and Jenny Ebert of Eau Claire, Wis.; children, Hank Ebert of Boise, Idaho, Emilie Bruss of Kenosha, Wis., and Richard Ebert of Walnut Creek, Calif. He is also survived by nine grandchildren and one great grandchild. He is further survived by his brother, George, and his sister, Ginny. He is preceded in death by his parents, his brother, Bob, his sister, Dorothy, and one grandson Private Sam Bruss. At his request, there will be no services. Information provided by survivors.