LAWRENCE "WES" WESTPHAL (1922 - 1997)

WESTPHAL, BENSON, HUPKE, HARDEMAN, PADGETT, TESTROTE

Posted By: County Coordinator (email)
Date: 5/11/2020 at 09:26:20

Lawrence "Wes" Westphal, 75, of Cherokee, Iowa and former mayor, passed away Thursday, October 23, 1997 at his home following a short illness.

Memorial services will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at the Greenwood Funeral Home in Cherokee. Gregg Johnson will officiate. His body will be cremated and the ashes scatter at a later date.

Mr. Westphal was born October 14, 1922 in Brainerd, Minnesota to Alfred and Bertha (Benson) Westphal. He moved to the Storm Lake area with his family at the age of three. He attended Brooke School and graduated in 1940. He was always interested in aviation and became a fighter pilot during World War II. He flew P-51s with the 357th Fighter Group based in Leiston, England. Following the war he managed the Sioux Ranch for Steele State Bank of Cherokee.

On May 10, 1949 he married Fern Hupke in Cherokee. For 11 years he and Chuck Testrote were partners in Cherokee Flying Service at the Cherokee Airport. He worked for Caswell Mfg. as director of leasing and later as sales manager, as well as being the company pilot, until his retirement in 1984. He served as chairman of the Airport Commission for 15 years. He resigned from the commission when he was elected and served as mayor of Cherokee from 1986 to 1994. He was a member of the VFW and the Cherokee Flying Club for many years.

Survivors include his wife, Fern; two daughters Sheryl Hardeman, Chattanooga, Tennessee; Caroyl and her husband, Tom Padgett, Virginia Beach, Virginia; one son, John Westphal, Elgin, Illinois; two grandchildren Susan Hardeman and Scott Padgett; a former son-in-law, Gene Hardeman, Chattanooga; and one brother Leon Westphal and his wie Lucille, Cherokee.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

It is suggested memorials be given to the Sioux Valley Memorial Hospital Hospice.

Source: Former Cherokee County Historical Society Scrapbook. Obituary dated 10-25-1997.

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