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GREENAN, Wesley Dennis "Wes"

GREENAN, WOLD, PIRKL, HANSEN, RISER, PANNKUK

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/22/2018 at 11:01:16

Obituary ~ Wesley Dennis "Wes" Greenan
May 14, 1927 ~ May 25, 2004

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Thursday, May 27, 2004

MASON CITY —Wesley D. Greenan, 77, of 501 S. Kentucky Ave., died Tuesday (May 25, 2004) at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa West Campus.

A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 302 Fifth St. S.E., with the Rev. Dennis Cahill officiating. Interment will be in Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery. Full military rites will be conducted by the Mason City Veterans Memorial Association. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave., with a rosary service at 7 p.m. Memorials may be given to Holy Family Catholic Church or Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa Renal Dialysis Center.

Wes was born May 14, 1927, in Regan, N.D., the son of Paul H. and Ragna (Wold) Greenan. The family moved to Mason City when Wes was 1 ½ years old. He graduated from Mason City High in 1945, entering the Navy the day after graduation and serving for four years, receiving an honorable discharge. Wes graduated from Mason City Junior College, receiving a degree in law enforcement; from Hamilton Business College, and from the FBI National Academy in Washington, D.C., as well as other post-graduate courses.

Wes married Mary Frances Pirkl on Jan. 20, 1951, and they became parents of two children, Mary Elizabeth Greenan and Michael Francis Greenan.

He joined the police force in 1950 as a patrolman and was a member of the Mason City Police Department for 32 years. He served as chief of police for eight years. Wes retired in 1982. He taught law enforcement at NIACC for several years and was a private investigator for 10 years. Wes was a devout convert Catholic involved in many activities at Holy Family Catholic Church, serving as an usher and lay distributor of communion.

Wes organized and coached youth softball, organized the Holy Family softball team, and organized and coached the Holy Family football team (8th-10th-graders) that played three crosstown rivals each week. They had their own team doctor, Dr. Robert Brown, who resided in Iowa City. They held an annual banquet with trophies presented and a featured speaker.

Being an avid sports fan, he and Mary rarely missed a Milwaukee Braves game in Milwaukee, traveled to Iowa City for Iowa football and basketball games, and held Minnesota Vikings season tickets, attending regularly. He coached and pitched for area softball teams for 54 years, a number of years coaching the Butt’r Topp Bakery team, the sponsor being the bakery and made possible by dear friends Hans and Inge Sell. The team traveled extensively from state to state, winning most of the tournaments it entered.

Wes helped Sue Madsen organize the annual Dave Sharp Memorial Softball Tournament following Dave’s untimely death.

Wes’s membership in organizations included the River City Softball Hall of Fame, B.P.O.E. Elks Lodge 375, Knights of Columbus, VFW, Moose Lodge, Iowa State Police Association (of which he was past president), Iowa State Chief of Police Association (of which he was past president) and the FBI National Academy, of which he was past president. Wes had also served as a Webelos, Cub Scout and Eagle Scout leader.

He loved his family dearly and is survived by his wife of 54 years, Mary, of Mason City; daughter, Mary Elizabeth Greenan and husband, Mark Hansen, of Mason City; son, Michael Francis Greenan and wife, Diane Lee “Dee,” of Mason City, and step-grandson, Jeffrey Riser and family.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Donald Verne Greenan; grandson, Brent Michael Pannkuk (Mary Beth’s son), and several nieces and nephews.

Major Erickson Funeral Home & Crematory, (641) 423-0924.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2018


 

Cerro Gordo Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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