Leonard C. ANDERSEN

ANDERSEN, RITLAND, SCHNEIDER, GRAHAM, OLSSON, DEMEULENAERE, KINDT, STEEN, CARTER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/2/2015 at 14:15:52

May 30, 1911 ---- December 28, 2014

Leonard C. Andersen, 103, of Sioux City passed away Dec. 28, 2014, at a Sioux City nursing home. Services will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Morningside Lutheran Church, with the Rev. Tom LoVan officiating. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. today, with the family present at 6 p.m. and a prayer service at 7 p.m., at Meyer Brothers Morningside Chapel.

Leonard was born to Danish immigrants Lauritz and Marie Andersen on May 30, 1911, in Waukegan, Ill. He moved with his parents to Presho, S.D., as an infant. He graduated from Presho High School in 1929. He earned his degree from Huron College in Huron, S.D., in 1933, which included a year at the University of South Dakota Law School. He attended the University of South Dakota for another year, followed by a year teaching at Onida, S.D., high school. He moved to Forest City, Iowa, to head the Business and Economics Department at Waldorf College. He completed a master's degree in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1936.

Leonard married Charlotte Ritland on June 30, 1937. Leonard began selling life insurance part-time. When they moved to Clarion, Iowa, in 1939, Leonard sold insurance full-time. He moved his family to Sioux City in 1941 when he became a general agent. During World War II when gas and tires were rationed, he taught at Morningside College. In 1960, he bought several general insurance agencies. He founded Andersen Investment and Insurance Agency. The business is still in the family. Beginning in 1952, Leonard bought and managed rental property in various neighborhoods of Sioux City.

Leonard spent 14 years in the Iowa legislature. Ten in the House of Representatives and four in the Senate. He served on numerous state and local committees and boards, including the Human Rights Commission in Sioux City. He also was a regent at Augustana College. Leonard and Charlotte were faithful members of Morningside Lutheran Church since their arrival in Sioux City. Leonard taught Sunday School, served on numerous committees, and was president of the congregation four times. Leonard was active in the Lion's Club, Sioux City Rental Association, Scandinavian Society and Sons of Norway, and was a founding member of the local chapter of Charter Life Underwriters.

Leonard is survived by his wife, Charlotte; four children, Karen (Fred) Schneider of Cincinnati, Ohio, Paul (Jeanne Graham) of Sioux City, Charlene (Kurt) Olsson of Moscow, Idaho, and Mark (Denise DeMeulenaere) of Sioux City; 13 grandchildren; and 27 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Margaret Kindt and Marie Steen; brothers, Lawrence, George and John; a son, David, who died in the 1952 polio epidemic in Sioux City; and great-granddaughter, Karina Carter. Pallbearers will be his seven grandsons. Memorials may be directed to Morningside Lutheran Church Endowment Fund.

Sioux City Journal - Sioux City, Iowa
January 2, 2015