Severt STACKLAND

STACKLAND, FINCHUS, WOLSTENHOLME, WILLIAMS, MCGINNIS, WINTERER, COURTOIS, DEIMERLY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/22/2008 at 18:43:02

EAGLE GROVE—Funeral services for Severt Stackland, 93, of Marshalltown and formerly of Estherville, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008 at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Eagle Grove. Interment will be held at Rose Hill Cemetery following services. Visitation will be from 9–11 a.m. Saturday at the church. He died Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008, at the VA Home in Marshalltown.

Severt Stackland, the son of Norwegian immigrants Mandius and Thea (Finchus) Stackland, was born April 25, 1914, on a farm near Jewell. The family moved to Eagle Grove when Severt was a child. Severt attended Eagle Grove Community Schools, then after a series of jobs in Washington State, Montana and the Merchant Marine, enlisted in the Army during World War II. After the war, he began plumbing and heating vocational training offered by the Armed Forces at a base outside of Blackpool, England. While stationed in Blackpool, he met his wife, Vera Wolstenholme, a British citizen. They married on Dec. 27, 1945. His wife traveled to Iowa via the Queen Mary into New York then Severt met her in Chicago and brought her home to Eagle Grove. They moved to Estherville in 1948. Much of their early married life was centered around the English War Brides club that had a large chapter in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. They were happily married until Vera’s untimely death in 1980.

Severt brought his plumbing skills, learned in the army, to Estherville in 1948 where he established his own business, Stackland Plumbing and Heating, and retired in 2003. Being a veteran was a very important part of his life and a source of great pride. While in Estherville he was an active member of the American Legion and a lifetime member of the VFW. Severt spent the last four years of his life living at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. He will be fondly remembered for his keen intellect and constant reading of magazines about modern science and alternative nutrition. He was well ahead of his time being devoutly interested in health foods, alternative medicines, nutritional supplements and the power of magnets. Severt also especially enjoyed camping with his family when they were growing up—including Pilot Knob State Park in Iowa and Gooseberry Falls State Park in Minnesota.

He is survived by his children, Susan Stackland of Harriman, Tenn.; Thomas Stackland (Carolyn Williams) of Duluth, Minn.; and Tia McGinnis (James) of Boca Raton, Fla.; grandchildren Andrea, Ashley, Jesse and Noah Winterer, Sydnie Stackland, Kevin and Connor McGinnis; two sisters, Serena Courtois of Palm Bay, Fla., and Margaret Deimerly of Clarion. He was preceded in death by his parents, wife and two brothers.

January 11, 2008
Estherville Daily News, Iowa