Maynard Dennis HOLMGAARD

HOLMGAARD, CHRISTENSEN, LOBDELL, MCGRATH, DECKER, DAVIS, MARTIN, HANSCH, HIRSCH, NELSON, WESSELS, HARM, KUNKO, TRACY, DUVALL, BRUGGEMAN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/1/2013 at 13:16:12

November 28, 1922 --- May 27, 2013

Belmond — Maynard D. Holmgaard, age 90, of Belmond, Iowa, died, Monday, May 27, 2013, at the Rehabilitation Center of Belmond. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, May 31, at the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Belmond. Father Nils Hernandez will be officiating. Burial with full military honors provided by the Belmond Military Unit will be in the Belmond Cemetery. Visitation will be on Thursday at the Andrews Funeral Home, 516 1st Street S.E., Belmond, and will continue one hour prior to the funeral at church Friday. Memorial suggestions include the Belmond Fire Department.

Maynard Dennis Holmgaard, the son of Walter A. Hansen Holmgaard and Botilda (Christensen) Holmgaard, was born November 28, 1922, at rural Coulter, Iowa. He attended and graduated from Thornton High School in Thornton, Iowa, with the Class of 1941. During his school years he was active in various extracurricular activities including baseball and basketball. After high school Maynard was employed as a farmhand in the Thornton area.

In 1942, Maynard enlisted in the United States Navy. He attended boot camp, training as a machinist mate at the Great Lakes Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill. He then transferred to the Algiers Repair Base at New Orleans in 1943. In 1944, Maynard was transferred to duty on the USS Topeka CL 67 which was a part of Admiral Halsey’s 3rd Fleet and was a part of the landing of the Occupational Forces in Japan. He eventually returned to Portland, Ore., for Navy Celebration Day. Following his attachment with the USS Topeka, Maynard was then transferred back to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center to teach where his military training commenced. In April of 1946, Maynard was Honorably Discharged as a Machinist.

He was united in marriage to Helen Lobdell McGrath in 1946 and the couple’s union was blessed with a daughter, Laural “Laurie” Lee. Helen passed away from cancer in 1969. Maynard later married Shirley Jean Decker Davis, who enjoyed living in Belmond and was active in community affairs. She passed away in 1998 from cancer.

After his years working in various jobs Maynard began employment with the United States Postal Service in 1949. His postal career continued until his retirement in 1981 as a letter carrier. Throughout his 32 years with the post office, Maynard made countless friends and looked out for the well- being of the residents along his routes along the way, often times lending a hand along the journeys of his deliveries. While traveling along his route in October of 1966, Maynard was seriously hurt, and suffered lifelong injuries as a result of being caught up in the Belmond tornado of 1966. He was unable to work for 444 days as he recovered from the trauma from the mishap. In addition to his career with postal service, Maynard spent 15 years as assistant greenskeeper at Clarmond Country Club along with doing various other jobs. Besides spending most of his life in Belmond, his life journey had also included periods of time living in rural Ellendale, Minn., and rural Hampton, Iowa. Maynard worked hard in his career and carried this characteristic through in his hobbies, pastimes and the volunteer service and tasks he did for his community, friends and neighbors. He took great pride in raising a beautiful weed-free garden and lawn, and diligently went about accomplishing many day-to-day tasks despite some mobility issues he incurred from the tornado’s effects on him.

Maynard was more than willing to help his neighbors with various tasks and took great pride in helping to maintain the sidewalks of many storefronts in downtown Belmond, shoveling snow and sweeping the outside entry areas. He also gave countless hours of his time to the Belmond Volunteer Fire Department over a 55-year span as a member of the department. In addition to helping fight fires earlier on, he was the dispatch director, calling the department into action for many decades. Maynard had also been a member of the Clarmond Country Club and truly loved to golf in the past. He had enjoyed time in the outdoors taking his family on fishing outings to area lakes and the occasional “night fishing” outing.

In his younger years he looked forward to hunting excursions and the rush of a flushing pheasant, the incoming flight of waterfowl and the exciting pursuit of the whitetail deer. Maynard enjoyed giving of his talents to his family as he handcrafted many pieces of furniture and other keepsakes for his family. He very much appreciated the simple and relaxing times of leisure as well, be it listening to Rush on the radio which was always on at his home, watching basketball on TV, gathering walnuts or baking angel food cakes for his family and friends. In recent times Maynard had looked forward to dining out and the comraderie [sic - camaraderie] of his buddies Norbert and Leroy at Cattleman’s in Belmond and, of course, his Sunday dinners at the restaurant after his trek to St. Francis for Mass. He also enjoyed coffee and conversation with friends at True Value and sharing in the “News of the Day!”

Maynard was a longtime member of the Belmond VFW and American Legion and had been a member of the Masons for over 50 years. Those who had the privilege of crossing in his life journey will miss Maynard’s friendly and welcoming, “Hello, how are you doing today?!”, concern for the well-being of his fellow man, gentle demeanor, willingness to lend a hand and seeing him about town doing “good turns.” All who knew him will miss seeing that easily recognizable, cherry-red sedan tooling about the town in a “methodical pace” as he went about the duties of the day.

His memory will live on in the lives of his daughter, Laural “Laurie” (Gary) Martin, Clarion, Iowa, and her daughter, Danielle (Paul) Hansch and their family, Kelsey, Quinn, and Lauren; and son, Bradd Martin and companion Angel Hirsch and their daughter, Lillian, Boone, Iowa; Maynard’s step-children, sons David (Laurie) Nelson, Belleville, Ill., and Michael (Micki) Nelson, Parthenon, Ark.; daughter, Kathy (Bob) Wessels, Belmond; son, Bill (Jean) Nelson, Spencer, Iowa; and daughters, Patricia Harm and Pamela Kunko, Puyallup, Wash.; his two sisters, Doris Holmgaard, Thornton, Iowa, and Myrna (Bob) Tracy, Van Nuys, Calif.; and also numerous step-grandchildren and great- grandchildren and other extended family and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wives Helen in 1969, and Shirley in 1998, his sister, Virginia in 1992, brother, Dale in 1999, and step-son, Jack McGrath in 1967. Andrews Funeral Home, Belmond, Iowa.

May 30, 2013
Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa

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Mason City Globe Gazette - Mason City, Iowa
May 29, 2013

Belmond Fire Department loses good friend in Maynard Holmgaard

By LAURA BIRD

BELMOND — A Belmond man is being remembered for his dedication to the Belmond Fire Department.

Maynard Holmgaard, 90, died Monday. This year marked his 55th year with the Belmond Fire Department. “It was kind of his life really,” said Holmgaard’s daughter, Laurie Martin of Clarion. “The Fire Department was his life. The firemen were his family. He just thought it was a good service organization, I think.”

“He was willing to do anything for the Fire Department,” said Roger DuVall of Belmond, who has been with the department about 36 years. “Up until about two years ago he was responding to calls but he wouldn’t go out on calls.” DuVall said Holmgaard would stay at the station and answer calls and handle the paperwork.

Holmgaard would also “pop in” the station every day to make sure everything was clean and in order, said Fire Chief Wayne Bruggeman. He also attended the Fire Department’s twice-a-month meetings, Bruggeman and DuVall said.

“He was just a cornerstone (for the Fire Department),” DuVall said. Martin said Holmgaard was also well-known in the community as one of its mail carriers for 32 years and one of the people injured in Belmond’s tornado on Oct. 14, 1966. Holmgaard was finishing his mail route on the south side of Belmond when he had to take shelter. Martin said he was eventually found about 10:30 p.m. that night, pinned between a grain bin and tree. “He was in a coma for about a week and took about a year to recover,” she said.

Holmgaard stayed busy gardening and would often take tomatoes to the hospital, senior apartments and care center, Martin said. He also enjoyed hunting, fishing, bowling and golfing, she said.

“He was an outstanding putter and chipper,” said DuVall, who often played golf with Holmgaard. “He wasn’t a very good (golf) driver in his old age. “He brought me along just to drive,” he added laughing.

The Fire Department plans to honor Holmgaard by escorting him to the cemetery after his funeral on Friday. DuVall said other area fire departments might attend as well since he was well known in the area. “We’ll miss him coming into the station,” Bruggeman said. “We will miss him a lot.”