Russell Wilken

Funeral services for Russell Wilken, age 78, of Odebolt, will be held Friday, September 12, 2003, 10:30 am, at Trinity Lutheran Church, Odebolt, Iowa, Rev. Albert Buelow officiating, Phyllis Kies organist, along with congregational singing. Pallbearers include: Jerry Miller, Tate Wilken, Ryan Keefe, Reese Johnson, Blake Wilken, and Charles Lindberg. Interment will be at the Odebolt Cemetery.

Visitation will be Thursday, September 11, 4:00-8:00 with family present after 6:00 at the Farber & Otteman Funeral Home, Odebolt, Iowa.

Russell Wilken of rural Odebolt died September 8, 2003, at Horn Memorial Hospital in Ida Grove, IA. He was 78.

Russell Henry Wilken was born October 9, 1924, to Ferdinand and Edna (Gosch) Wilken, at home on his family’s farm east of Odebolt. He was baptized and confirmed at Peace Lutheran Church in Wall Lake. Russ attended country school through the eighth grade.

Following his graduation from Odebolt High School in 1941, he farmed briefly, attended welding school in Lake View, and then worked for a heating company in Des Moines. During World War II he joined the U.S. Merchant Seamen and traveled to many ports throughout the world.

On June 23, 1946, he married Joyce Marie Albrecht at Peace Lutheran. As newlyweds they lived in Des Moines and later farmed east of Odebolt. In 1952 they moved to a farm south of Odebolt which they later purchased from Grace and Lillian Hanson and on which Russ continued to live until his death. He retired from farming in 1992. In addition to farming, he also sold seed for Latham and Cargill/Mycogin.

Russ was a longtime active member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Odebolt, a former church president, and served for many years as high school Sunday School class teacher. He was a former member and president of the Odebolt-Arthur Board of Education and had served on the Sac County Board of Health. He had also been on the board of the Sac County Beef Producers, and of the Sac County Pork Producers.

Russ enjoyed travel, history, reading, cattle, and his grandchildren’s ballgames. He loved the land, and in addition to owning the farm south of Odebolt, also acquired the land his grandparents settled in the 1880’s. That farm remains in family hands and is an Iowa Century Farm.

Left to cherish his memory, in addition to his wife Joyce, are three daughters: Mary Jo and Duane Miller of Urbandale, IA, Kathy and Jim Keefe of Webster City, IA, and GayNelle and Dan Doll of Nashville, TN; a son David and Twyla Wilken of Odebolt; eight grandchildren: Jennifer and Jim Kuehn, Dawn and Dave Powell, Jill Miller, Jeremy Miller, Ryan Keefe, Blake Wilken, Alayna Wilken, and Tate Wilken; four great-grandchildren; a brother Paul and Bonnie Wilken of Sedalia, MO; a sister Joan and her husband Rev. Reynold Petersen of Wall Lake; and numerous other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents and an infant granddaughter.

Interment was in Odebolt Cemetery in a plot next to his German immigrant grandparents, from which to the distant east can still be seen an old cottonwood tree standing sentry over the land they settled more than one hundred years ago.