Henry Albert Rottunda 1915 - 2003

ROTTUNDA SWANSON, BOE JUHL

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 4/14/2014 at 22:32:36

Sioux City Journal
22 December 2003

Henry A. Rottunda, 88, of Sioux City died Saturday, Dec. 20, 2003, at a Sioux City hospital following complications of Influenza A.

Services will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at Trinity Lutheran Church, with the Rev. Terry Templeton officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be 3 to 8 p.m. today, with the family present 6 to 8 p.m. and a prayer service at 7:30 p.m., at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel.

Henry Albert Rottunda was born Jan. 13, 1915, in Greenwood, Wis., the son of Max and Lillie (Swanson) Rottunda. He was one of eight children. He spent his childhood on various farms in southern Minnesota, eastern Wisconsin and northern Iowa. He completed his education at Granite Falls, Minn.

His first job during the Depression was plucking chickens for $.03 a piece in Granite Falls. In 1936 he came to Sioux City and got a temporary job at Iowa Public Service (now MidAmerican Energy). He trained and became an electrician. He was with I.P.S. for 45 years, retiring in 1980. During that time, he held several positions including substation foreman and instrument and control supervisor for the three George Neal plants from the time they opened.

During his employment, Henry was active in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, union steward and member of the executive board of Local Union 880 and secretary and treasurer of the I.P.S. system council. He was also active at Trinity Lutheran Church. He served as church council president, property chairman and teller committee chairman. Henry attended High Twelve Club and was a member of Landmark Masonic 102 A.F. & A.M., Sioux City Consistory and the Foot Patrol of the local Shriners.

After retirement, Henry spent much of his time volunteering. After helping with the 1980 census, Henry enrolled in the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). His first volunteer assignments were delivering Meals on Wheels and serving the Court Watch Program sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. In 1982 he accepted a volunteer position in the city's Inspection Department, fielding telephone complaints from city residents. He also served as a tax aid volunteer, financial counselor and AID Center credit counselor. For his volunteering, he received recognition from the state of Iowa Governor's Council, the AID Center, the retired association of Iowa Public Service and the Fraternal Order of the Sioux City Eagles Club.

He married Lila Eleanor Boe on June 23, 1939. She died in 1984. He married Viola Juhl in 1986. She died in 2000.

Survivors include a daughter, Lynne Rottunda Clark and her husband, William Clark of Sioux City; a son, Larry Rottunda and his wife, Karren of Bloomington, Ill.; two brothers, Ernest of Granite Falls, and Ted of Las Vegas, Nev.; three sisters, Ruth Jorgenson and Dorothy Jorgenson, both of Montevideo, Minn., and Edith Thiessen of Clara City, Minn.; nine grandchildren, Kerry Patterson, Kenny Clark and Kevin Clark, all of Sioux City, Stephanie Aldinger and Kim Lammers of Grimes, Iowa, Michelle Meier of Dubuque, Iowa, Megan Svoboda of Urbandale, Iowa, and Kourtney and Kurtis Rottunda, both of Bloomington; and eight great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Lila; a daughter, Gail Svoboda of Des Moines; a brother, Herbert Rottunda of Las Vegas; a sister, Veda Mitlyng of Las Vegas; and his second wife, Viola.

Pallbearers will be his grandchildren.

Memorials can be made in Henry's name to Trinity Lutheran Church in Sioux City or the Shriners Crippled Children's Fund.