Rev. Richard E. “Dick” Otten 1929 - 1997

MENCKE, OTTEN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen -Volunteer (email)
Date: 1/27/2019 at 21:43:56

Sioux City Journal
5 June 1997

Rev. Richard E. “Dick” Otten, 68, of Des Moines, Iowa, formerly of Sioux City, died Monday, June 2, 1997, at the Hospice Kavanagh House in West Des Moines from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at First United Methodist Church in Des Moines. The body was cremated. Private family burial services will be at a later date. Visitation with the family will follow the service at the church. Westover Funeral Home in Des Moines is in charge of the arrangements.

Rev. Otten was born January 28, 1929, in Sioux City, the son of Henry and Amanda (Mencke) Otten. He served as a Methodist minister in Dubuque and Princeton, Iowa, Nashwauk, Pengilly, Marble and St. Paul, Minnesota.

He moved to Des Moines three years ago.

He was a member of First United Methodist Church and the First Human Rights Commission in Roseville, Minnesota. He was commissioned to write Sunday School material for Augsburg Publishing Company in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was twice president of the Ministerial Association in Dubuque, Iowa. He was the founder of the Okoboji Summer Lutheran Camp in Okoboji, Iowa and the founder of the Pilgrim House, a non- denominational learning center, in St. Paul.

Survivors include his wife, Dorothy A. Otten of Des Moines; a daughter, Vicki Kristan of West Des Moines; a grandson, Daniel Kristan; a sister, Connie Wallinga of Minneapolis, Minnesota; a brother, Dr. Philip Otten of Grand Rapids, Michigan and numerous nieces and nephews.