E. H. "Breck" Breckenfelder

BRECKENFELDER, HENSEL, SEVEREID

Posted By: June Brewer Welsch (email)
Date: 4/20/2009 at 04:07:36

Source Muscatine Iowa Journal Sept. 7, 2000
MUSCATINE
E. H. ''Breck'' Breckenfelder, 80, died Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2000, at his home.

Services will be at Zion Lutheran Church. The Rev. Paul Ostrem will officiate. Pallbearers will be Kip Fisher, Don Johnson, Gene Mathern, Bill Schafenacker, Gary Sebbert, and Ray Stange. Burial will be at Greenwood Cemetery.

Visitation will be at the Ralph J. Wittich-Riley-Freers Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to Zion Lutheran Church, Rotary International Foundation, Lutheran Homes or Hospice of Iowa City.

He was born on June 9, 1920, in Coon Valley Township, in Sac County, the son of Frank A. and Hilda Hensel Breckenfelder. He married Betty Jean Severeid on July 26, 1944, in Ames.

He graduated from Auburn High School and earned his bachelor's of science in electrical engineering from Iowa State College in 1942. He earned his master's of science in industrial and management engineering from the State University of Iowa in 1965.

Following graduation in 1942, he remained at Iowa State College to teach at the Naval Training School. In 1944, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the Navy and served as a technical air observer.

Upon his discharge from naval service in 1946, he and his wife moved to Muscatine where he joined the firm of Stanley Consultants as a design engineer. He held a number of positions over the years, including head of the report and research section, head of electric systems department, project manager and power systems consultant. He served on the board of directors and retired as vice president after 37 years with the firm.

He was a registered, professional engineer in 16 states and held memberships in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; American Management Association; National Society of Professional Engineers; Professional Engineers in Private Practice; Consulting Engineers Council; and the Iowa Engineering Society. He authored various articles and papers published in journals and presented at technical meetings.

A Rotarian since 1952, he was a member and past president of the Rotary Club of Muscatine. He went on to serve as District Governor from 1990-91 and was a multiple Paul Harris Fellow.

He served as a director for both the Muscatine Community School Foundation and the Lutheran Homes. His volunteer service spanned a number of community organizations including United Way. He was an active member of the Zion Lutheran Church.

His hobbies and interests included woodcrafting, miniature crafts, clocks, astronomy, automatic musical instruments, reading, and travel.

He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Betty Breckenfelder; his children, Jane Rasmussen and her husband, Steve, of Madison, Wis., Ann Moody and her husband, Chuck, of Muscatine, David Breckenfelder and his wife, Sue, of Oconomowoc, Wis., Sue Thilo and her husband, Tom, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, John Breckenfelder and his wife, Sherri, of St. Charles, Ill.; 12 grandchildren; two brothers, Frank Breckenfelder of Lake City and Carl Breckenfelder of Erhard, Minn.

He was preceded in death by his parents.
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