Al Ahrens, 76, of Ankeny and formerly of Grinnell, died on July 23, 2021, at his home of natural causes. A funeral service is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, July 27th, at the Grinnell Christian Church with Rev. John Epperson. Pallbearers will be Joel and Nick Ahrens, Cory Kracht, Dan Norelius, Mike Sharp and Bill Zook. Honorary bearers will be Keith Koger, Jay Stevenson, Les Routier, Pete Kulis and Jim Ullmer. A luncheon will follow at the church and a private family burial will be in Hazelwood Cemetery Tuesday afternoon. The Ahrens family will greet friends one hour prior to the service at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be designated to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Ruth Harbor Ministries, 534 42nd Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50312, or the Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARL). The service will be livestreamed on the Smith Funeral Home Facebook page beginning at 10:45 a.m. Al was born on August 24, 1944, in Grinnell to Carl and Geraldine Westgor Ahrens. He grew up on a farm near Searsboro and in Grinnell. He was a 1963 graduate of Lynnville-Sully High School. He served in the Iowa Air National Guard from 1965 until 1971. On March 26, 1966, he was united in marriage to Candy Wiley, in Grinnell. Lisa and Eric became a part of their family in 1974. Al started his work career in 1963 at Miracle Recreation till 1967. He then started with Holland Plastics, as a packaging engineer from 1967 to 1975. In 1975, he became general manager of Cellox Corporaton in Reedsburg, Wisconsin for 3 years. He returned to Grinnell in 1978 and was employed as an area sales manager for Poly-Foam out of Lester Prairie MN for 10 years. He started his own company in 1988, Packaging Sales and Consulting and was a packaging designer and in sales until retirement. His company worked closely with Honeycorr, Newton IA and Iowa EPS, Des Moines, IA. He was a respected designer in his field and received many awards for his concepts. He also sold box making equipment and started his own short run boxmaking company, Custom Made Boxes. Candy and Al moved to Ankeny in 1990, which is currently their home. During his retirement, he and Candy enjoyed wintering in Florida. Al enjoyed fishing and hunting in his younger days; he loved the outdoors. He held a passion for hot classic cars, loved playing cards and socializing with friends, both in Iowa and Florida. He was an avid Iowa Hawkeyes and NASCAR fan, enjoyed traveling throughout the United States, and was a passionate bicycle rider until his health limited participation. He was loving, compassionate, always positive and down to earth. He never knew a stranger. Left to cherish his memories are his wife, Candy of Ankeny; two children, Lisa Ahrens of Rock Creek Lake and Eric Ahrens of Ankeny; a granddaughter, Jessica Ahrens; Grinnell, a brother, Jim (Carol) Ahrens of Grinnell, Mother-in-law Colleen Wiley of Grinnell, sister-in-law, Cindy Manly,of Okoboji IA and brother-in law, Bill Wiley of Overland Park, KS. He was preceded in death by his parents.