Ronald Elmer "Ron" Herum 1926-2011

HERUM, HANSEN, QUASTAD, FEDDERSEN, BLEGEN, POWERS

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 5/26/2013 at 23:07:17

Ron HERUM
DIED: October 5, 2011
LOCATION: Estherville, Iowa
Ronald Elmer Herum was born October 30, 1926, to Raymond and Elsie (Amdahl) Herum on the south shore of Ingham Lake near Wallingford, Iowa. He weighed "less than a 5 pound sack of flour". Ron passed away on October 5, 2011, at the age of 84 years at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Ron and his brothers, Phil and Dick, kept busy on the farm with lots of hard work and shenanigans. The three boys enjoyed playing Annie-Annie Over the barn with a crow bar and water bottle fights with glass bottles. The Great Depression began in 1929 , "Everybody was the same - didn't have nothing." Ron went to three different one-room school houses through eight grades and graduated from Graettinger High School in 1945.

In 1946, Ron got a "government job - drafted." He served in the Occupation Army of WW II in France. He celebrated his 20th birthday in Paris under the Eiffel Tower. He was then transfered to Germany and saw a lot of the devastation from the war. He was stationed in Coffburen and then Bremerhaven. It was cold in the winter - "damn cold!"

In 1948, Ron started working for the Wallingford Elevator in the feed mill. "Don Richards and I did all the hard work". Ron worked there until he retired 36 years later as the elevator manager.

Ron got recalled in 1951 for the Korean Conflict because he was 10 days short of serving a full draft in WW II. On the way to Korea, he went through Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the train, "It was all flat." He was a mechanic in Korea and worked on Sherman and Patton tanks from WW II.
Ron met Elaine Hansen in Estherville and they were married on December 24, 1951. Daughter, Lynn, was born a year later. On June 11, 1960, Ron married Donna Quastad of Gruver. They lived in Wallingford for seventeen years and had three children; Jacque, Jon and Judi. The family moved to Estherville in 1977.

Ron enjoyed his family, playing cards, visiting with friends, traveling, meeting new people, lutefisk dinners, and having coffee. Ron was a lifelong member of the Wallingford Lutheran Church, VFW, American Legion, and the Elks Club.

Left to treasure Ron's memory are his children: Lynn Feddersen (Dennis) of Estherville; Jon Herum (Christy) of Harrisburg, North Carolina; Judi Blegen (Eric) of Mahtomedi, Minnesota; son-in-law, Michael Powers (Jacque) of Naples, Idaho; six grandchildren, Chris, Melissa, Thomas, Andrew, Matthew and Jack; five great-grandchildren, Brennan, Carson, Caden, Tyler and Ashley; cousins; nieces; nephews and many, many friends.

Ron was preceded in death by his parents; wives, Elaine and Donna; daughter, Jacque; brothers, Phil and Dick; nephews, Roger Herum, Dennis (Kong) Herum, Gregory Herum, Marcus Landmesser and Brad Quastad.

INTERMENT : Wallingford Lutheran Cemetery, Wallingford (MC)