Robert MANDSAGER, M.D.

MANDSAGER, ERSLAND, HANSEN, BACON, ROGNESS, GRINDE, PECHAUER, BURGESS, SWIGGUM, CHILSTROM

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 8/17/2015 at 15:58:03

February 3, 1926 --- July 27, 2015

Dr. Robert Mandsager, 89, of Marshalltown, IA passed away Monday, July 27, 2015 at Mercy Medical Center, in Des Moines, IA. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m., Thursday, July 30, 2015, at Elim Lutheran Church, in Marshalltown. A luncheon will be held immediately following the services at the church. Interment will be at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Hardy, IA, following the lunch. Visitation will be 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 29, 2015, at Anderson Funeral Homes, 405 W. Main St., Marshalltown. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to ChildVoice, 202 Kent Place, Newmarket, NH 03857. Anderson Funeral Homes has been entrusted with these arrangements.

Robert Mandsager was born February 3, 1926, on the family farm near Thor, Iowa, to Laurence and Jessie (Ersland) Mandsager. He was baptized and confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church in rural Hardy, IA. He attended a rural Humboldt County elementary school and graduated from Renwick High School in 1943. He served in the Navy as an Electrician's Mate during World War II. He graduated from Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD, with a degree in biology in 1947. While he was in college, he met his future wife, Dorothy Hansen, of Vermilion, South Dakota. They were married on June 15, 1949.

Following graduation from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 1952, he interned at Hurley Hospital in Flint, Michigan, and then did the first year of surgical residency in Bismarck, North Dakota.

As a child, Robert felt called to be a medical missionary after hearing a medical missionary from China speak in his church. While China was closed to any missionary work in the 1950's, the Sudan Mission in Cameroon needed another doctor to join Dr. Conrad Eastwold. So in August, 1954, under the auspices of the American Lutheran Church, Dr. Mandsager, with his wife and two small boys, left on the Queen Elizabeth 1, for France. After one year of studying French in Paris, the family set sail on a Norwegian freighter for Douala, Cameroon.

Dr. Mandsager began his work in a primary care dispensary at Garoua Boulai. He helped design and build the Garoua Boulai hospital that was opened in 1960. He and Dr. Eastwold split their work between that hospital and the one in Ngaoundere. The Mandsagers served for 8 years in Cameroon.

Desiring to finish his surgical training, Dr. Mandsager began a surgical residency in 1964 at the University of Iowa College of Medicine. After completion, the family moved to Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1968, where Robert joined a general surgery practice with Dr. Donald Reading. They were joined in 1974 by Dr. Thomas Foley. Dr. Mandsager served the greater Marshalltown community until his retirement in 1995.

Dr. Mandsager was board certified by the American College of Surgery, was a Fellow of the American College of Surgery, and a member of the American Medical Association, the Iowa Medical Society, and the Marshall County Medical Society. He was the Chairman of Marshall County Board of Health for a many years. He was on the Iowa Foundation for Medical Care for a number of years, and was president of it for two years.

He served on several boards over his years, including the American Lutheran Church Mission Board, the Dana College Board of Regents, Global Health Ministries, and the Red Cross Board.

Dr. Mandsager was a long standing and active member of Elim Lutheran Church. He was a member of Promise Keepers and Lions International. He enjoyed woodworking, doing the daily crossword puzzles, following the Hawkeye football team, and traveling to visit his family from Alaska to New Hampshire, and everywhere in between. He returned to Africa on two occasions after retiring to help with medical missions, the latest with ChildVoice in Uganda at the age of 80. He enjoyed family time at their cabin on Lake Ponderosa, water skiing well into his 70's. He and Dorothy enjoyed the past 12 winters at Venture Out in Mesa, AZ.

Dr. Mandsager is survived by his wife, Dorothy, and his children: Richard (Ruth) of Anchorage, AK, Conrad (Kathy) of Dover, NH, Neil (Kathryn) of Johnston, IA, Ron (Ruth) of Corvallis, OR, Maran Bacon (Joel) of Alma, WI, 17 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. He is also survived by his sisters: Mary Rogness, Janice Grinde (Ray) and Rachel Pechauer (Ron), and sisters-in-law: Kathy Mandsager (David), Jean Burgess (Lyle), Devona Swiggum and Corrine Chilstrom (Herb). He was preceded in death by his parents, one grandchild, Thad, two brothers, Charles and Davis, a sister-in-law, Sally Mandsager, and his brothers-in-law, Aaron Rogness and Harland Swiggum.

Des Moines Register - Des Moines, Iowa
July 29, 2015