Garnet Bortnem Otterness, age 88, of Wichita, Kansas, died Wednesday, July 9, 2008, in Wichita. Funeral services will be on Saturday in Wichita and at 10:00 A.M. Monday, July 14, 2008, at Lake Campbell Lutheran Church, rural Volga. Visitations will be from 5-8 P.M. Sunday at Eidsness Funeral Home in Brookings. Interment will be in the church cemetery. Memorials supporting the arts in public schools have been established with Arts Partners, 201 North Water, S-100, Wichita, Kansas 67202, and the American Diabetes Association, 837 South Hillside, Wichita, Kansas 67211. Garnet Bortnem Otterness and her twin brother, Glenn, were born October 22, 1919, at Volga, South Dakota, to John and Carrie (Overskei) Bortnem. Her maternal and paternal grandparents were Norwegian pioneers and were among the first settlers in Lake and Brookings Counties. She was one of 13 children raised on the family homestead. She graduated from Volga High School, attended Augustana College, and taught in the same one-room schoolhouse as her mother had taught. She lived and worked in California, Florida, and New York City before settling in Wichita with her husband, Lyle Otterness, to raise her family. Garnet worked as a full-time mom, real estate agent, and after her retirement she was a full-time grandma and caregiver for her Wichita grandchildren, which gave her great purpose and joy. Her challenges in life were no match for her strength and devotion to her family. Mas love of poetry, the arts, and nature lives on in all her family. Survivors include a son, Tom (Coleen Fitzgibbon) Otterness of New York City, New York; a step-son, Paul (Barbara) Otterness, of Albany, California; daughters: Kristin (Howard) Depew of Virginia City Highlands, Nevada, Laurie (George) Nitschke of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, Susan (Jim) Otterness-Bachman of Wichita, Kansas, and Lisa (Dennis) Miller of Overland Park, Kansas; grandchildren: Noah Laredo, Kelley Wilson, Samantha and Logan Miller, Angela Nitschke, Kelly Fitzgibbon Otterness, and William and Sophie Bachman; a brother, Victor Bortnem, of Hendricks, Minnesota; sisters, Alice Kean of Brookings, South Dakota, Irene Barrett of San Leandro, California, Edith Gibbons of Volga, South Dakota, and Lois Degeest of Winona, Minnesota. She was preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Orlo, Loyd, Glenn, and Ninus Bortnem; and sisters Alvera Berg, Avis Dumler, and Jenetta Milfs Jacobsen.