Roger Honold, 87

Roger Frederick Honold, Pleasant Hill, passed away on March 25, 2021. He was born at the family farm home north of Latimer, Iowa on July 7, 1933 to Paul Arthur and Anna Emma Bruns Honold. He was baptized and confirmed at Evangelical and Reformed Church of rural Hampton. He attended country school at Honold Independent School through 7th grade.

After that he went to Franklin Consolidated in Latimer. He graduated from there in 1951. On February 5, 1953 he was inducted into the U.S. Army, taking basic training and schooling at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. He then went to Korea and Japan and was honorably discharged on December 24, 1954 as a Corporal.

On January 22, 1955 he was united in marriage to Shirley Ann Johansen at Nazareth Lutheran Church in Coulter, Iowa. They made their home on the family farm north of Latimer where they raised their three children. They farmed there for 30 years and in 1983 they started driving truck, being in 46 states in the next 11 years. In 1989 they moved to Princeton, Missouri.

Shirley died in January 1994 of cancer. On June 17, 1995 Roger married Dixie Lee Louks Fink at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Colo, Iowa. They made their home on an acreage east of Ogden, Iowa. There Roger continued to drive truck, first for Madden LTD of Boone, and then for First Fleet of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

During their years on the farm, he served on many boards and committees in the Franklin County community. He was on the CAL school board, Franklin General Hospital Board of Trustees, several terms on the Nazareth Lutheran Church council as well as Sunday School superintendent and teacher. He was also active in 4-H, Farm Bureau and producer organizations. He was a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Ogden and VFW of Boone.

He is survived by his wife, Dixie, children Nancy (Tom) Teigen, Carol Barnett, and David (Karen) Honold, stepchildren Duwayne (Nancy) Fink and Denise (Greg) Wilgenbusch, grandchildren Peter (Elizabeth) Teigen, Kari Teigen, Laura (Brooks) Kromer, Joseph Honold and Paul Honold, step-grandchildren Annette (Kenny) Miller, MacKenzie (Steve) Gersdorf, Meredith Fink, Bret Wilgenbusch and Alex Wilgenbusch, step-greatgrandchildren Jordan and Riley Gersdorf, and nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, his first wife Shirley, and his sisters Frances and Lois.

Roger was loved by all who knew him and he will be very much missed. His secret to a long good life was good diet, good attitude, and lots of love given and received from family, friends and yes, even his pets. He enjoyed tinkering in his shop, garden and working on old tractors. And most of all, he enjoyed being a loyal Cubs fan.

Private family services were held, and burial in the Coulter cemetery and a celebration of life will be at a later date. Memorials to honor Roger are suggested to some of the organizations that he volunteered for, including the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum and Meals from the Heartland.