Joseph Eastlund

Joseph Eastlund, age 55, of Galena, Kansas passed away on Tuesday (August 18th) at Lakeside Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday (August 25th) at 11:00 AM at Carlin - Hoialmen Funeral Home in Fosston, MN with the Rev. Dr. Gerald White officiating. Interment will be in Hope Lutheran Cemetery, Fosston. Visitation will be held from 10:00 to 11:00 AM prior to the funeral services on Tuesday. Arrangements are with the Carlin - Hoialmen Funeral Home of Fosston and messages of condolence may be sent at carlinhoialmen.com.Joseph William Eastlund was born August 31, 1953 in St. Paul, Minnesota to parents Lowell J. and Joyce L. (Johnson) Eastlund. Joseph was baptized at First Lutheran Church in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Joseph was raised until he was 14 in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota attending Vadnais Heights Elementary and Central Junior High in White Bear Lake. At this time his parents moved to Overland Park, Kansas a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. Here he attended Old Mission Junior High and Shawnee Mission North High School. Upon graduation from High School in 1972, Joseph attended two years at Kansas University. He then tried his hand at various aspects of the contracting business finally specializing in painting.In October of 1978, Joseph was involved in a motorcycle accident that put him in a coma for 7 to 8 months at Kansas University Medical Center. Finally being released he ended up in a group home in the small town of Galena, Kansas. Here through determination he convinced people enough that with the help of his mother he was able to set himself up in his own home. There he was able to live his life independently with the help of family and friends. Joseph passed away on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 while visiting his brother and mother in Omaha, Nebraska. He was 55 years old.Joseph was the grandson of John and Aurora Eastlund of Fosston, Minnesota, members of Hope Lutheran Church and interred at Hope Lutheran Cemetery in Fosston. He is to be buried alongside his grandparents and uncle Russell Eastlund.Joseph was preceded in death by his father Lowell Eastlund and his brother James Eastlund.Survivors include his brother John Eastlund and mother Joyce Eastlund of Omaha, Nebraska: his uncle Gene Eastlund and aunt Darlene of Stillwater Minnesota, uncle William Johnson of Minneapolis, three cousins in the Twin Cities, one cousin in Denver, Colorado and niece and nephews in Kansas City.