Rodney Lee Severson (1937-2007)

SEVERSON, WOMPLER, MILLER, TWEDT, BARD, BARD

Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 5/10/2008 at 17:30:22

THE STORY CITY HERALD, Story City, Story County, Iowa, Wednesday, July 4, 2007.

Services for Rodney Lee Severson, who passed away Monday, June 25, 2007, were held Friday, June 29 at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Radcliffe. Interment was at the Radcliffe Cemetery in Radcliffe.

Rodney Lee Severson was the only child born to Arnold and Beulah (Wompler) Severson on July 1, 1937 in Iowa Falls, Iowa. He graduated from Radcliffe High School in 1955. He helped his father run the Severson Dairy route in Radcliffe, milking cows and delivering milk. Throughout high school he played the clarinet, was an active member of 4-H and won many grand champion awards showing cattle and sheep at the Iowa State Fair. He was a member of the Ames Moose Lodge and a lifelong member of Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Radcliffe, Iowa. After high school, Rodney attended an apprenticeship program for finish carpentry.

He married Monica Mae Miller on Nov. 30, 1958. Rodney loved working with wood and was naturally, a carpenter by trade. He worked many years with Rueben Lee at KD Cammack Construction. Rodney and Rueben Lee ventured out on their own for many years before he joined the Carpenter's Local Union and worked for JT & S Construction. He helped build and supervise the Hilton Coliseum, C.Y. Stephens, the ISU towers, the ISU parking ramp along with many other familiar landmarks. Rodney later joined the Union Brotherhood Local #106 out of Des Moines, Iowa, where he worked over 20 years in Des Moines and the surrounding area for Neuman Brothers Inc., retiring after suffering a heart attack and major back surgery. He truly was talented and gifted when it came to working with his hands.

He took great pleasure in his retirement, checking up on his friends and neighbors, always making sure they were working. Rodney and Monica enjoyed wintering in Arizona. You could find him at either the summer or winter house, out in his workshop -"piddling". He enjoyed his strategy of winning bingo, fishing, hunting, camping, boating, sprint car racing, all-star wrestling, traveling with his wife, spending time with his kids and playing with his grandkids and was an avid Cub's baseball fan. Rodney always had something to give and would never take in return. He never told anyone good-bye, just "catch ya later".

Rodney is survived by his loving wife and soul mate, Monica; one son, Brian and his wife Marion of Carpenter, Wyoming; two daughters, Brenda and her husband Bob Severson, and Renee and her husband Seth Twedt, all of Story City; one granddaughter, Barbara (Matt) Bard of Cheyenne, Wyoming; and five grandsons, Chris of Cheyenne Wyoming, Jacob, Trenton, Justin and Zachary of Story City, one great-granddaughter, Aja Bard of Cheyenne, Wyoming; along with an abundance of friends through-out the United States, Germany, Canada, Mexico and many campgrounds across Iowa.
Rodney was deeply loved by his family and friends; and will be missed by all. The person he was, is a gift to all of us who now remember him.

Rodney was preceded in death by his parents.