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Dwayne Milton Bourret

BOURRET, LIFFRING-ZUG, HESKJE, BRADNAN, ETZEL, WHITE, ENGEL, ZELLERS, HEUSINKVELD, MARSHALL, JOHNSON

Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 10/25/2021 at 10:16:35

Dwayne Milton Bourret passed peacefully at his daughter’s home in Hiawatha on October 20, 2021.

Dwayne was born on October 27, 1929 in the mecca of style, Sioux City, Iowa, where he took fashion cues from no one. At the height of his fashion prowess, he was awarded Best Dressed Man in Sioux City. Rumor had it his sister Shirley and the girls from the telephone company overloaded the voting system, but our dad knew better.

His signature everyday look was quite extraordinary. He could often be found sporting polyester pants belted well above the navel, paired with a plaid or other patterned shirt, layered with a knit hand-me-down sweater, size 11 narrow Allen Edmonds, and if a special occasion, a loud, obnoxious themed tie. If we were lucky, it lit up or played a song. In his early years, he was known for mixing patterns that could blind a first responder.

Dwayne attended Central High School and Morningside College. He had a long and successful career in the retail shoe industry and earned his professional Pedorthist Certification (that’s right, Google that!) from Ball State University.

He was a proud Eagle Scout, Drum Major, Shriner, National Guard Mess Sergeant, Iowa Mineral Society President, Past Commodore of the McGregor Upper Mississippi Yacht and Boat Club, Trustee of Sny Magill University, McGregor, Iowa, where he was a Professor in the Culinary Arts Department. He was also a long-time member of Lovely Lane United Methodist Church and later of The First Congregational Church in McGregor, Iowa.

Perhaps it was the Boy Scouts where he learned to be frugal, as demonstrated by his million uses for a rubber band, re-use of the common lunch baggie, and mixture of the last bits of multiple breakfast cereal boxes. Why he felt the need to mix the cereals, we don’t know; he was the “Coupon King” after all, and surely could’ve purchased new for next to nothing!

Dwayne found great joy in the kitchen. It likely all started in his parents’ coffee shop where he would cook beside his mother, while his sister and brothers helped the customers. He’d later use those culinary skills as Mess Sergeant in the National Guard. His children and grandchildren were less fortunate as Dwayne apparently had no recipes and created concoctions for them that only Anthony Bourdain would appreciate.

The entrepreneurial bug bit Dwayne early, when he and his brother Daryll would collect milk bottles to return to the grocery store. The entrepreneurial bug was strong: a delivery route for the Omaha World Herald, restaurant ownership and several shoe stores, including his pride, Krall’s Shoes, in downtown Cedar Rapids, which he closed in 1996.

If you know our dad, you may have heard one of these “Dwayne-isms” overtime. When asked how he’s doing, “Better than I deserve!” When something doesn’t go your way, “Onward forward, never look backwards.” When you left the door open, “Were you born in a barn?” In a moment of encouragement, “You’re rough and tough and hard to bluff!” At his shoe store working, “You can sit down when I sit down!”

For nearly 92 years he’s been tap dancing, boxing, rock and mineral collecting, gardening, watching out for his siblings, taking care of pet monkeys or dogs, telling bad jokes wrong, engaging strangers in conversations, endearing the ladies and kissing their hands, making homemade bread, predicting new acquaintances’ shoe sizes, grooming flowers and playing ball with his dog May on the front lawn of their river home in McGregor, managing his employees (who were often his children), working hard and long hours, driving a car load of our family across America and refusing to ask for directions, tipping well, giving loose change in his pockets to grandchildren, motivating those same kids to do well in school, caring for a terminal wife (our mom, JoAnn), giving his old but working watch to a homeless man, delivering shoes to customers at care centers who could no longer get out and about, opening he and Joan’s home to friends and family, being a great dad or grandfather no matter “biological” or not, being respectful of women, countless traveling adventures, taking coffee to Joan each morning, wine tasting and sharing his bargain bottles with all who knew and loved him, sending us home with magazine and newspaper clippings he thought we should read, rooting on the Hawkeyes, and asking for a “doggie bag” at every turn so he could bring a treat to his beloved dogs April and May.

Dwayne consistently upheld the highest of values, demonstrating so many positive virtues in simple everyday acts of kindness with those he encountered. May we all honor his memory by striving to do the same.

While he did not make his goal of living to age 94 to outlive the age his late Uncle Hank, he sure lived well in the days we were blessed to have him here.

In addition to his wife, Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret, he is survived by his children: Josie Heskje, Melinda (Mike) Bradnan, Lynette (Steve) Etzel, Jeff (Jeni) White, Denise Bourret, DeChantal (Bradley) Engel, grandchildren: Ryan Etzel, Jonah Heskje, Lydia Heskje, Levi Heskje, Tiffany Bourret and Brandon Bourret; siblings: Shirley (Ron) Zellers and Donald (Donna) Bourret. He was also survived by many and adored nieces and nephews, former son-in-law, Eric Heskje and special step-grandchild, Holly Heusinkveld.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Macyll Irene and Charles Milton Bourret, brother Daryll Bourret, granddaughter Amy Marshall and two previous wives, Jacquelyn Johnson and JoAnn Brookings Bourret.

Memorials can be directed to: Last Hope Animal Rescue DONATIONS, 1823 16th Ave. SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404 – in Dwayne Bourret’s honor. Or online: https://secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/s/mflELz8YgKJDVQPL9lHfZw
Simply provide the name and address of the family in the online form: Josie Heskje, 2320 Creekside Drive, Hiawatha, Iowa 52233
Cards for the family can be sent in care of Josie Heskje, 2320 Creekside Drive, Hiawatha, Iowa 52233.

Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
 

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