Fjelstul, Charles Richard 1925-2006
FJELSTUL, POWELL, HUBER
Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 8/29/2012 at 14:23:32
C. Richard Fjelstul, age 80, of Centennial, CO and formerly of Ridgeway, Iowa, died Friday, August 25, 2006 at his home in Colorado following a long illness.
Memorial Services will be held at 2:00 P.M. Sunday, September 3, 2006 at Fjelstul Funeral Home in Decorah by Rev. Phillip Olson and Rev. Ginny Olson, with burial in Lincoln Lutheran Cemetery, rural Ridgeway.
There will be no visitation. Fjelstul Funeral Home of Decorah is in charge of the arrangements.
Memorial contribution may be made to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, 1332 North Halsted Street, Suite 201, Chicago, IL 60622
Charles Richard Fjelstul was born with his twin sister Charlotte Ruth on December 2, 1925 in Calmar, Iowa, the son of Henry and Cora Fjelstul.
Richard married Rosalea Berniece “Chris” Powell in Sapulpa, Oklahoma on November 26, 1949 and commenced a life in oil exploration which led them through the western states and ultimately the world to start a family with Curtis (Texas) and Calvin (Colorado). In Calgary, Alberta, Canada the family grew with the births of Clifton and Cynthia. Continuing his search for oil, he moved his family to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia in 1960 and Catherine became the baby of the family that next year.
Taking alternative routes around the world each year, the family returned to Sapulpa and the farm in Ridgeway to visit family and friends. After 10 years, Phillips Petroleum Company reassigned Richard to Singapore, then Tehran, Iran, then Brisbane (again) and Perth, Western Australia and following a brief stint in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, he finally settled in Colorado where he retired in 1985.
World traveler yet always a family man, he was loved dearly by his wife and children.
Survivors include two sons, Curtis (Theresa) Fjelstul of Petaluma, CA, Clifton Fjelstul of Ridgeway, IA; two daughters, Cynthia Fjelstul of Calistoga, CA, Catherine Fjelstul of Centennial, CO; three granddaughters, Angelina, Giovanna, and Adrianna; his twin sister, Ruth Huber of San Jose, CA; two brothers, Maynard Fjelstul of Decorah, IA and Leslie (Rosemary) Fjelstul of Charles City, IA; and special friend, Terri Killian.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Chris and son, Calvin.
A Tribute by his son, Curtis:
It is impossible to encapsulate Dad’s lifelong travels and achievements, so I wish just to relay my last and most agreeable conversation with him.
I was calling to say I would be out of touch for a few days, for I was leaving for Oregon to observe a butter maker make butter the old fashioned way. He told me how he and his brothers Maynard and Leslie would walk to the Calmar Creamery to help their dad, Henry, and how he used to pour the sulfuric acid into the vial of cream to test the butter fat content. He said it was good fun!
I told him what a most amazing and wonderful life for a boy raised in rural Iowa to have achieved … and he agreed.
Then he said he had 5 wonderful kids and there I had to agree, and that we loved him very much!
Our conversation continued as we chatted about living in Calgary Alberta, Canada, Singapore and Tehran, Iran and I asked him of all the many places in the world he had lived, which he liked the most. He said he liked them all, but then admitted he enjoyed Australia the most. It was there Catherine was born and where we lived longest together as a family. Again, I agreed.
While we were chatting, I walked over to my wall of framed family photos. I commented on his wedding photo (which I brought) of how handsome he was. Again, he agreed with me. I thanked him for passing on those genetic traits.
I learned early on not to get into deep conversations on certain topics with Dad, like economics, politics or religion. He was very pragmatic and would invariably exclaim: don’t fool yourself! And he always won the argument. He gave me his engraved childhood bible, not as a family heirloom to be passed on to future generations, but simply that he never read it or had any use for it. But now, as he looks down from Heaven, I can finally have the last laugh and say “Don’t fool yourself. I told you you were going to Heaven.”
No matter where he lived in the world, every year he would always find an alternative route around the world and his final destination was always the farm in Iowa.
Today his travels are over and he finally comes home to rest.
Source: Fjelstul Funeral Home database
Lincoln Lutheran cemetery
Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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