Cecil Dale Vredenburgh 1918 - 2018

MAGNET, VREDENBURGH, LUNDEEN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen -- Volunteer (email)
Date: 8/22/2018 at 07:21:24

Onawa Democrat
27 June 2018

Cecil Dale Vredenburgh, formerly of Moorhead, Iowa, and current resident of Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, passed away on Sunday, June 17, 2018, having recently celebrated the milestone of his 100th birthday.

Funeral services will be 10:00 A.M. Thursday, June 21, 2018, at the Rush Family Chapel in Onawa, Iowa, with Chad Springer officiating. Burial will be in the Spring Valley Cemetery in rural Moorhead. Visitation will be one hour prior to the funeral services on Thursday, June 21, 2018, at the Chapel. Arrangements are under the direction of Rush Family Care Service in Onawa.

Dale, the only child of Rex DeWard Vredenburgh and Elsie Mae (Magnet) Vredenburgh, was born in 1918 and lived in Monona County his entire life. Dale grew up on a farm and attended a one-room country school until the eighth grade. He fondly remembered riding a pony over 7,000 miles back and forth to school until graduating from Moorhead High School in 1935. After graduation he worked on his father's farm and raised purebred Belgian draft horses. In 1939, he married Margaret Ellen Lundeen of Missouri Valley and they purchased their own farm in the Loess Hills southwest of Moorhead.

In the early 1950's, Dale began leasing out his farm and went to work as a supervisor of cement finishing crews for a company that built cement grain elevators in western Iowa. He would later form the Vredenburgh and Wessell Construction Company with Darrell Wessell, bought a lumberyard in Soldier, Iowa and specialized in remodeling. Dale returned to farming and ranching in the mid 1960's and ran a Charolais and Longhorn cow and calf operation until he and Margaret retired. They sold the farm and moved to Moorhead in 1993.

Dale was always actively involved in community activities. He was an elder and active member of the Moorhead Christian Church, a Past Master of the Masonic Elk Lodge No. 586, and the first Scout Master of Boy Scout Troop 33 in Moorhead. Throughout his life he always enjoyed farming, competing in horse shows, raising cattle, and hunting and fishing. In his later years, Dale was passionate about flower gardening and raising cacti from seeds, and often shared his garden vegetables with his neighbors. At the age of 97, Dale moved to Floyd Place, a senior living community in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa.

He is survived by his two sons, Larry Dale Vredenburgh and his wife Mary of Arvada, CO and James Martin Vredenburgh and his wife MaryJo of Sergeant Bluff, IA; seven grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; a cousin, John "Jack" Wax of Sergeant Bluff, IA; sisters-in-laws, nieces, nephews, and their families.

Dale was preceded in death by his parents; his loving wife of 72 years, Margaret Ellen; and his daughter, Janis Hope Thomsen.

Monona Obituaries maintained by Linda Ziemann.
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