Oscar Norton Refsell, 1888-1943

REFSELL

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 3/7/2009 at 16:13:57

O. N. REFSELL DIES; ATTORNEY HERE 25 YEARS

Fails to Recover After Operation

O. N. Refsell, 55, Estherville attorney since 1918, died yesterday [Oct 10, 1943] in the Coleman hospital where he had been a patient since last Tuesday when he underwent an operation for gallstones.

Mr. Refsell was not only a prominent member of the Emmet county bar, but served as vice-president and as director of the Iowa Trust and Savings bank and took an active part in church affairs.

Heart Condition Fatal

Those who attended Mr. Refsell at the hospital said that following surgery Tuesday he gained well but that Saturday a heart condition developed, probably from the shock of the operation, and that efforts to relieve the failing heart were unsuccessful.

Oscar Norton Refsell was born Oct. 10, 1888, at Wallingford, the son of James M. Refsell and Annie Osher Refsell. He received his elementary education in Emmet county. He attended the Red Wing, Minn. seminary in 1906; the University of Wisconsin, where he received a BA degree in 1911; and the University of Chicago where he received a Master of Arts degree in 1914. In 1917 Mr. Refsell attended law school at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Iowa where he obtained his law degree. From 1911 to 1917 he was a professor of science and mathematics at the Jewell Lutheran college at Jewell.

Admitted to Bar in 1918.

During the year 1918 Mr. Refsell was admitted to the Iowa bar and worked with the firm of Morling and Morling in Emmetsburg during 1918 and 1919. Beginning in 1919 he began the practice of law in Estherville. From 1921 to 1924 Mr. Refsell wa justice of peace in Estherville and from 1925 to 1929 he served as county attorney.

On April 29, 1919, Mr. Refsell was married to Miss Josephine Peterson of Wallingford.

During World War 1 Mr. Refsell enlisted April 1918 at Camp Dodge with the O.T.C. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the second division and received his discharge Nov. 29, 1918.

Active in Organization

He was a member of the American Legion and of the Emmet County Bar Association of which he was secretary. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Lutheran church and in 1939 was chairman of the church's building committee. He also has been Sunday school superintendent and was a past president of the Lutheran Brotherhood.

He was preceded in death by his mother and father. He is survived by his widow and two daughters, Helen Ann, who is a senior student at St. Olaf college at Northfield, Minn. and Eunice Marie, who is a senior in the Estherville high school, and by one sister, Emma, who resides at Wallingford.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon in the Lutheran church at Estherville, with burial in the Wallingford cemetery. The Rev. L. A. Mathre, pastor of the Estherville church, will officiate.

Contributed by: Ruth Hackett. Source: Estherville Daily News, Estherville, Emmet County, Iowa; October 11, 1943.