Liesch, Michael R. (1931-2017)

LIESCH, SULING, HUSEMAN

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 1/16/2018 at 17:16:32

Michael R. Liesch
October 3, 1931 - December 30, 2017

Michael R. Liesch, of Waterloo, died on Saturday December 30, 2017, at the Bartels’ Lutheran Home in Waverly from complications of pneumonia contracted shortly before Christmas.

Mike, a son of Robert and Ann Liesch, was born on October 3, 1931, in Mitchell, South Dakota. Having been born on the open plains, Mike’s earliest childhood memories included hunting with his father. Raised in the heart of Indian Territory as well, Mike, also, developed an early interest in Western lore and the history of firearms.

After graduating from Westview High School in Lake City, Iowa, and briefly attending the University of Iowa to study pharmacy, Mike began a thirty-year Naval career as a Corpsman in 1951. Awarded a Purple Heart for the wounds he sustained in combat during the Korean War, he, also, earned numerous other awards for his dedication to duty. In addition, he, successfully, completed training in many areas during his naval career including Underwater Demolition Training.

On November 8, 1951, Michael married Delores V. Suling of Galva, Iowa, while on leave from the Navy. They had met at the University of Iowa where Sue (as her friends knew her) had earned a degree in nursing. During their forty-three-year marriage, they lived in Baltimore, Iowa City, and eventually, Waterloo.

Mike’s fulltime career included working as a Supervising Operating Room Technician and later as an Administrator of numerous Blood Bank operations within the American Red Cross and at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Mike’s tremendous knowledge of guns and his mechanical/technical skills gained during his youth and in the Navy, also, provided him with a loyal following of clients during his forty-year secondary career as an expert gunsmith and antiques firearms restorer. He retired in 1995 and continued to travel and pursue his hobby collecting antique firearms until his recent health problems.

Mike is survived by two sons, Aaron Liesch, of The Woodlands, Texas, and Kurt Liesch, of Waterloo, Iowa; a daughter-in-law, Joyce Liesch; two granddaughters, Krista and Melissa Liesch; a sister, Patricia Clow, of Lake City, Iowa; a brother-in-law, Virgil Suling, of Eldon, Missouri; and a sister-in-law, Norma Jean Huseman, of Anchorage, Alaska. Mike was preceded in death by his wife, Delores (Sue) Liesch, in 1995.

Interment of his ashes will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery in Storm Lake, Iowa, on Saturday, January 6, 2018, at 2:00 p.m., preceded by a short memorial at the Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Alta, Iowa at 1:00 p.m.

Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Homes, 2017.

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