Ants Teetsov

Ants Teetsov was born on November 26, 1931, in the town of Halliste in the independent Republic of Estonia to Jaak and Valentina Teetsov. Ants's father was among the Estonians who fought for Estonian Independence at the end of World War I. Ants, his older sister Aino, his three younger brothers, Jaak, Jaan, and Enn, and his older brother Herbert enjoyed the peaceful life of free Estonia, living on their family's farm and in the capital city of Tallinn, where their father worked as a constable. Peace and freedom were destroyed by the Stalinist soviet invasion and occupation of the Republic of Estonia from 1939 to 1941. In September, 1944, on one of the last ships leaving the harbor of Tallinn, Ants, his mother, and his three brothers escaped the second soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia, and the ensuing wave of terror which the soviet secret police directed against the Estonian People. Ants’s family fled through war-torn Europe in the direction of advancing American troops.

Ants and his family, reunited with his father, were Estonian displaced persons in camps administered by the United Nations in the American Zone of Occupied Germany. In 1949, they were sponsored by the Lutheran Resettlement Service and a farm family in Nebraska. Two years later, the family moved to Crystal Lake to work in Terra Cotta Industries. During the Korean Conflict, Ants served honorably as an Army MP for the Headquarters of the 129th Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division (Indianhead – Second to None). He became a United States Citizen, in uniform, on the historic deck of the battleship USS Missouri on November 11, 1954, the very first Veterans Day.

In 1957, Ants married his true love, Leini Anto, who also had to flee the second soviet invasion of Estonia in November, 1944, with her mother, aunt, and cousin. Ants and Leini would have celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary on June 22nd of this year. Ants was the proud father of four sons – Paul, Allan, John, and Robert. He encouraged his sons to go to college and to make the most of their talents. Ants was a loving father and did his best to teach his sons what he had learned from his boyhood days, and what he had learned from making his way as a new citizen of this nation. He always worked diligently to take care of his family and always put taking care of his family first. Ants and his youngest brother, Enn, worked together as union carpenters in TLT Homebuilders and Teetsov Brothers Construction, building and renovating many homes.

Ants was in a nursing home since autumn 2019. He always loved to hear news about his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Ants was resilient even when he lost his eyesight. He maintained his sense of humor and never lost his keen interest in his family, the world, and in his own lived experience. One of his sons read 18 Estonian-language novels, memoirs, and artist diaries aloud to Ants over the course of several years. Ants listened carefully. He also loved to sing along to Estonian folk songs that he remembered from his childhood. His favorite, is about a young man who sought comfort throughout his life in the shade of the birch tree at the door of his family farmhouse. When it was time for the young man to leave home, the birch tree whispered, “Stay home, my friend. You’ll find peace here”. Ants enjoyed singing this song to his last day. Ants spent the last days of his life with his wife and his sons Allan, John, and Robert beside him, night and day. Kallis Ants, me armastame Sind! We love you.

A memorial service for Ants will take place on Friday, June 20, 2025, at 11am at Bethany Lutheran Church, 76 West Crystal Lake Avenue, Crystal Lake, IL.

In lieu of flowers, please donate in Ants's name to the Carver Family Center for Macular Degeneration Research Fund at the University of Iowa: Toll-free (800) 648-6973 to donate.