Richard H. "Dick" Benke 1937-2003

BENKE, ROLING, WESTEMEIER, HOIST, EASTERLING, MANZA

Posted By: cheryl moonen (email)
Date: 3/28/2018 at 20:39:52

Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA) - Saturday, August 9, 2003

MONTICELLO, Iowa - Richard H. "Dick" Benke, 66, of Monticello, died Thursday, Aug. 7, 2003, at St. Luke's Hospital, Cedar Rapids, after a brief illness.

Memorial services will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Monticello, with the Rev. Donald Schmitt officiating. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Kramer Funeral Home, Monticello, where there will be a Knights of Columbus Rosary at 4 p.m., and a parish scripture service at 7 p.m.

He was born on May 23, 1937, in Cascade, son of Clarence and Nellie (Roling) Benke. He married Ruth Ann Westemeier on Oct. 11, 1958, at St. Francis Catholic Church, Dyersville.

He graduated from Xavier High School, class of 1955. He attended Loras College and began working with his father at B&W Appliance in Dyersville. He moved to Monticello in 1963 and worked for REM Electric until establishing RB Electronics in 1968, from which he retired in 2001. He was the scoutmaster in Dyersville in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and was involved in scouting in Monticello.

Dick was a member of the Knights of Columbus Council 1821 and the Sacred Heart Guild. Upon his death, he was an organ donor.

Surviving are his wife, Ruth Ann; a daughter, Rebecca (fiance, John Hoist, of Dubuque) Easterling, of Cascade, and her fiance, John Hoist, of Dubuque; two sons, Russell (Denise) Benke, of Onslow, and Rodney (Maria) Benke, of Severn, Md.; his mother, Nellie Benke, of Shady Rest Care Center, Cascade; a grandson, Richard Easterling, of Cascade; two brothers, Ronald (fiancee, Linda Kremer) Benke, of Dyersville, and David (Mary) Benke, of Cascade; a sister, Deanne Manza, of Winterhaven, Fla.; a sister-in-law, Mary Jo Benke, of Wynnewood, Okla.; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father, Clarence; a son, Randall, in 1981; two brothers, Dennis, in infancy, and Alan Benke, in 1983; and a grandson, John Randall Easterling, in infancy.