ESPINOSA, Paul Richard "Sonny" III
ESPINOSA, HOLT, HANSON, OTTERNESS, BINDER, WHYTE, WEIBER, WILSON, TURGEON, RUNDQUIST, MCFARLAND
Posted By: Sharon R. Becker (email)
Date: 11/23/2017 at 23:56:00
Obituary ~ Paul Richard "Sonny" Espinosa III
January 21, 1946 ~ May 10, 2010The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
May 13, 2010CLIVE - Paul Richard "Sonny" Espinosa III, 64, of 10524 Clark St., Clive, died Monday (May 10, 2010) at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines of cancer after being diagnosed April 1, 2010.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 15, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 213 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City, with the Rev. Jim Magelssen officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to the church service. Interment will be held in Memorial Park Cemetery. Full military rites will be conducted by the Mason City Veterans Memorial Association.
Memorials may be directed to Trinity Lutheran Church or the Mason City Education Foundation.
Paul was born Jan. 21, 1946 in Mason City to Paul "Blackie" and Mavis (Holt) Espinosa. He graduated from Mason City High School in 1964 and from Luther College, Decorah in 1968 and played basketball for Kent Finanger.
He served in Vietnam in 1969 with the rank of sergeant E-5 and was a member of the 9th Infantry Division.
In his youth he was confirmed by Rev. Lavern R. Hanson at Trinity Lutheran Church. He was a member of Boy Scout Troop 12 and enjoyed camping at old Camp Roosevelt at Clear Lake and the new camp at Marble Rock. He also enjoyed camping at Riverside Bible Camp.
He played cornet and alto horn in the All City Band for Stan Davis. He played first base for Elmer Starr's baseball team. He played basketball for the undefeated Mohawk basketball team rated No. 1 in the state for Herb Thompson.
He was united in marriage to Jo Ann Otterness in June 1968.
He played a lot of softball and managed the Clear Lake Buttertop softball team for Hans Sell. He played first base on a slow pitch softball team with his father as pitcher and they competed in the National Tournament in St. Louis, Mo. He was inducted into the Softball Hall of Fame.
Following his discharge from the service, he was employed in the meat industry at various locations and was plant manager of Pineridge Farms in Des Moines at the time of his death. His employees are from 10 countries and he has taken them under his wing helping them with legal matters, taxes, monetarily and with immigration issues, and they called him Papa.
He was united in marriage to Mary Binder in December 1996.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Espinosa, of Clive; his parents, Paul and Mavis Espinosa of Mason City; his son, Nathan (Amber) of Lino Lakes, Minn.; daughter, Jennifer (John) Whyte of Omaha, Neb.; stepdaughters, Heather (Kent) Weiber of La Pine, Ore., Ashley (Jesse) Wilson of South Dakota, Catlin Turgeon of Des Moines; seven grandchildren, Alexis and Alison Whyte of Omaha, Carver, Zachary, and Andrew Espinosa of Minnesota and Hannah and Sam Weiber of Oregon; three sisters, Sherry (Gordon) Rundquist of Iowa City, Pamela (Loyd) McFarland of Fresno, Calif., and Ann Espinosa of Ames; one brother: Peter (Kari) Espinosa, of Edina, Minn. He is also survived by one niece, three nephews, three great-nieces and one great-nephew.
He was preceded in death by his sister, Debbie, in 1970; his nephew, Matthew, in 2010; and grandparents, aunts and uncles.
He hadn't lived in Mason City for many years, but he was always a great supporter of it and loved the people living here. He still read the Globe Gazette everyday online. He served as master of ceremonies at his 45th class reunion in 2009. He spent his life doing acts of kindness for his family, his friends and his employees. His last act of kindness was that he and Mary took care of his father for the past nine months who has had dementia for the past three years.
Funeral arrangements are with Major Erickson Funeral Home & Crematory, 641-423-0924. www.majorericksonfuneralhome.com
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2017
Cerro Gordo Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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