Neste, Luverne Parnell 1930-2012

NESTE, SJARPE, HOOPMAN, OUJIRI, HENRY, PETERSON, STEFANICK, RUDOLPH

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 11/9/2012 at 16:47:36

Luverne P. Neste, age 82 of Decorah, Iowa, died Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at Wellington Place in Decorah.

Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 A.M. Monday, June 18, 2012 at First Lutheran Church in Decorah with Rev. Chad Huebner officiating. Burial will be in Union Prairie Cemetery in rural Decorah, with full military honors.

Visitation will be from 4:00-6:00 P.M. Sunday, June 17 at Fjelstul Funeral Home in Decorah and on Monday at 10:00 A.M., one hour before services, at the church.

Luverne Parnell Neste, the oldest son of Lawrence and Melinda (Sjarpe) Neste, was born May 12, 1930 on the Neste farm, Decorah, Iowa. He was baptized at First Lutheran Church, Decorah, on June 15, 1930 and confirmed on October 29, 1944 by Pastor T. A. Hoff.

Luverne attended the rural Hamre School, District No. 6, through the eighth grade, and then graduated from Decorah High School in May 1949. He worked at home until 1951 when he entered military service. He joined the U.S. Air Force, serving in the Korean Conflict as a co-pilot, carrying out several bombing missions. He was honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1955.

He was united in marriage with Mary Hoopman on June 27, 1956 at First Lutheran Church in Decorah by Pastor Rudolph Ofstedal.

Luverne and Mary moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in the fall of 1959 where he worked as a mechanic for Allen Motor Co. and then was a welder for Link Belt Speeder Welding, and devoted weekends working on the Neste farm.

In 1974 the couple moved back to a farm next to Luverne’s home farm where he and his brother, Paul, started the Neste Angus Farms and raised registered Black Angus cattle for twenty five years.

In the latter years, Luverne, always a conservationist, had a wild life refuge pond built on his property and a woodland preserve of many oak, ash, and walnut trees planted on his farm and his home place. He spent many hours tending these trees.

Luverne was a very kind man, willing to share his talents of welding, gunsmithing, and woodworking. He was a humble person, never taking himself too seriously, shown by his dry sense of humor. He was a true story teller, interspersing his reminiscing with very detailed descriptions of events and places.

Luverne and Mary have also been faithful, long time members of First Lutheran Church in Decorah.

After a winter of prolonged illness and a short week spent at Wellington Place in Decorah, Luverne was released to his eternal home with Christ on June 13, 2012 at the age of 82.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his two younger brothers, Sherman in May 1996 and Paul in October 2001, sister-in-law Jo Ann Neste Calovich, and brothers-in-law Don Oujiri and Ron Hoopman.

He is survived by his wife Mary of Decorah; three sisters-in-law, Nancy Oujiri and Mardella Hoopman of Cedar Rapids, and Ingrid Neste of Decorah; three nephews, Mike (Kathy) Henry and Paul Hoopman of Cedar Rapids, and Jon (Anna) Peterson of Sugar Land, Texas; two nieces, Michele (Joe) Stefanick of Ft. Myers, Florida and Kathy Rudolph of Cedar Rapids, and several cousins.

Our heartfelt thanks for the many acts of kindness, warm remembrances, and prayers during our time of loss.

Source: Fjelstul Funeral Home database

Union Prairie Cemetery
 

Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Bruce Kuennen.
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