Ernest L. "Ernie" Holsted

Ernest Leroyan “Ernie” Holsted, age 84, of Flushing, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, March 13, 2025 at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Michigan. Born on March 28, 1940, in Lakeview, he was the oldest of seven children born to Clarence & Mabel (Perkins) Holsted. Ernie attended schools in Big Rapids, Belding, Muskegon, and Weidman, graduating from Weidman High School in 1959. After high school he moved to the Flint area where he met the love of his life, Loretta (“Lori”) Jeanne Burkett. They were married on January 29, 1966, and this past January they celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary. Ernie worked at General Motors in Flint for almost 30 years, retiring in 2002. Music was always a big part of his life. From an early age his mother taught him and his two younger sisters and brother to sing together, and they sang in churches and on the radio. In later years he learned to play the guitar, and enjoyed singing and playing guitars with his brothers, Gary and Gene, and brother-in-law, Arlin, and playing to accompany his sisters, Gloria and Dolores, or other singing at family get-togethers. He loved his family and siblings, and greatly enjoyed the family get-togethers or going out to eat together with them. Ernie also enjoyed working on cars, hunting and trail-riding, gardening, carpentry, and keeping up with the news and what was going on in the world. He had a quick wit and great sense of humor, and he enjoyed making people laugh. Ernie was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Gary Holsted and Lyle Holsted; a sister, Gloria Frantz; and a brother-in-law, Arlin Frantz. Surviving are his loving and faithful wife, Lori; their two children, Chris & Carrie Holsted, and Sheryl Smith; two brothers, Gene & Nancy Holsted and Larry & Dianne Holsted; a sister, Dolores & James Morehouse; a sister-in-law, Louise Holsted; his grandchildren, Emma Holsted, Andrew Holsted, Ashley Holsted, Jamie & Tyler Johnson, Jessica Heger, and Adam Smith; and many great-grandchildren, nephews and nieces, great-nephews and great-nieces, and friends. Graveside committal services are at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18, 2025 at Riverside Cemetery in Langston where he will be laid to rest in the family burial plot. The Rev. David Hansen will officiate. “Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same, but as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again!” To send a message of sympathy to the family, sign Ernie’s online guest book, or to share a favorite memory, please visit: www.MichiganCremation.com Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Christiansen’s Michigan Cremation & Funeral Care, Greenville, 616-754-5638. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Ernest L. "Ernie" Holsted, please visit our flower store.