YOHN, Ronald D. (1911-1999)

YOHN, BONAR, ZIESMER, KNIGHT, STOLE, LARSON, LONNING, VANOORT, WANGSNESS, PEARSON, PISCOPO

Posted By: Hancock Co Genealogical Society
Date: 1/27/2024 at 17:11:00

Ronald D. Yohn
1911-1999

Funeral services for Ronald D. Yohn, 88, of Garner, who passed away Friday (November 12, 1999) at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit, Mason City were held 10:30 a.m., Monday at St. Paul Lutheran Church with the Revs. Clyde Kieschnick and Robert Bronson officiating.

Music was provided by organist, Beverly Cataldo who accompanied soloist, Doug Hayes and congregational hymns. Usher was Fred Weiss.

Honorary bearers were the Garner Lions Club. Casket bearers were Randy VanOort, Jerry VanOort, Casey VanOort, Mark VanOort, Jim Lonning and Alex Yohn.

Interment was at Concord Township Cemetery, Garner. Visitation was held Sunday at the Cataldo Funeral Chapel in Garner. Memorials may be directed to St. Paul Lutheran Church Construction Fund or Hospice of North Iowa.

Ronald DeVere Yohn, the son of Elmer and Ruth (Bonar) Yohn, was born January 10, 1911 on a farm near Klemme. The family farmed northeast of Klemme until 1920, when they moved east of Garner. Ron attended the rural schools of Hancock County and graduated from Garner High School in 1929. He worked for the Hancock County Road Department for several years and from 1933 to 1946 operated the Shell Oil Station in Garner.

On August 7, 1934, he married Lucille Ziesmer at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Garner. In 1946, Ron in partnership with John Schisel and Ferd Grell established the first Ready Mix concrete plant in a town with a population under 5000 (Garner). After buying out his partners, he operated Yohn Ready Mix in Garner, Belmond, Forest City, Clear Lake and Buffalo Center until retiring in 1973. During his ownership, he furnished Ready Mix concrete for 28 grain elevators in 14 North Iowa communities. When you cross a state or county bridge in Hancock, Winnebago or Wright county Ron probably provided the Ready Mix.

Ron was immensely proud of his employees and had great respect for the many construction customers that called him friend. He especially enjoyed seeing the big yellow Ready Mix trucks traveling throughout north Iowa. On September 26, 1992, he married Dora Knight Stole at St. Paul Lutheran Church. They lived in Garner and spent part of the winter in Mesa, AZ.

He was a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church and Men's Club. He was also a member of the Garner Lions Club for nearly sixty years and was a former member of the Garner Chamber of Commerce.

He is survived by his wife, Dora of Garner; his children, Sharon Larson and her husband, Lars, of Crystal Lake, Carole Lonning and her husband, Dr. Philip, of Humboldt and Bill Yohn and his wife, Rosemary, of Clear Lake; eleven grandchildren, Randy VanOort of Des Moines, Jerry VanOort of Colfax, Casey VanOort of Houston, TX, Shelly Wangsness of Ankeny, Mark VanOort of Des Moines, Bethe Pearson of Davenport, Jim Lonning of Rolfe, Angela Piscopo of Clear Lake, Jenny Yohn of Tempe, AZ and Laura and Alex Yohn of Clear Lake; twenty great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Lucille Yohn, January 25, 1992 and his parents.

source: Leader & Signal, Garner, Iowa, 17 Nov 1999, page 6, column 1