Rasmussen, Richard Emmons (1923-2016)

RASMUSSEN, EMMONS, RODEMYER, SMITH, LIEBERMANN

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 7/31/2016 at 16:52:19

Richard Emmons Rasmussen
March 15, 1923 - May 2, 2016

While living near his daughter, Richard (Dick) Emmons Rasmussen, aged 93, passed away on Monday, May 2, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa, after a very brief illness.

Dick was born on March 15, 1923, in Forest City, Iowa, to Anton Ensign Rasmussen and Clara Emmons Rasmussen. After graduating from Forest City High School, he spent a summer working on the construction of the new Trans Alaska Highway. Following that experience, he attended the University of Iowa for two years before entering World War II as an Army Air Force bomber pilot. In that capacity, he completed fifty missions and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for valor under combat conditions. After his service to his country he returned to the University of Iowa where he finished his degree in Commerce.

While in Iowa City, he met his future wife, Alyce, when a local minister invited them both to Thanksgiving dinner. They married on August 31, 1947, in her hometown of Nashua, Iowa, at the Little Brown Church in the Vale.

Dick, then, started his career as the Treasurer for the Southern Lumber Company in Davenport, Iowa. After ten years, he became a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch at its Davenport office, where he continued to work until he retired in 1988. At the same time, Alyce retired from teaching elementary school, and together, they traveled the country in their motor home, visiting forty-nine states and all the Canadian provinces. In addition, while spending their winters in Arizona, they became avid square and round dancers. Moreover, Dick enjoyed listening to music and following sports.

A charmer, Dick had an uncanny ability to exude and impart confidence and to bring smiles to people’s faces. He survived tuberculosis, which he contracted in Italy during World War II, and he credited his survival to Alyce’s visiting him at Oakdale Sanitarium every day. He told his war stories, such as landing on the grass between two occupied runways with only half his engines working and the brakes shot out. His grandchildren delighted in hearing how he complimented his wife. Every night he ended the day by saying out loud into the darkness, “Alyce, I love you.” He still is.

He is survived by his daughter, Carole Rasmussen (Mike) Rodemyer; his two sons, David (Kathy) and Thomas (Sally); eight grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren; a sister, Ruth Liebermann (Jerre); and a brother, Robert. For 65 years, he was married to Alyce Smith Rasmussen, who preceded him in death.

A funeral service is planned for Friday, June 3, 2016, at 1:00 p.m. at the Plymouth United Church of Christ, 4126 Ingersoll Avenue, Des Moines.

Copyright © 2016, Hamilton’s Funeral Home, Des Moines, Iowa

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