Dean Pattschull, 94
Dean Pattschull, age 94 of Nashua, Iowa died Friday, March 6, 2020, at the Linn Haven Rehab and Healthcare Center in New Hampton.
Funeral Services will be held 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 17, 2020, at St John Lutheran Church in Nashua with Rev. Charis Combs - Lay officiating.
Friends may greet the family from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Monday, March 16, 2020, at Hugeback Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory - Olson Chapel in Nashua. Visitation continues an hour prior to the service at the church on Tuesday. Online condolences for Dean’s family may be left at hugebackfuneralhome.com
Dean Fred Pattschull was born April 23, 1925 to Fred and Helen(Strong) Pattschull in Greene, Iowa, the middle child with an older sister and a younger brother. Dean grew up on the family farm near Powersville, Iowa attending rural one-room grade school then high school in Charles City, Iowa. He left high school after completing the 10th grade to help his dad with farming and carpentry work. He acquired his first Model A auto at the age of 16.
Dean entered the Army and completed his basic training during World War II. He was deployed to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan arriving just days after the second bomb to engage in the disarmament. He was assigned to supply truck driving. He was a marksman on the rifle range and known as a good boxer during his Army days. He had lots of tales to tell about his Army experiences. He returned to the family farm after his honorable discharge. Not before stopping in Hollywood becoming a driver for the stars for a short while.
One day he was in Waverly, Iowa with his brother-in-law when they stopped at the “Club” Café. It was there he met a beautiful green-eyed, auburn-haired waitress, Doris June Schiller. He asked her out for ice-cream and she accepted. They were married on a Saturday at the Little Brown Church. Five children were born, the youngest boy and girl being twins. The couple farmed near Powersville then moved to rural Nashua, IA continuing the farming operation and raising their family. The two loved to dance to Big Band music and rarely missed a Saturday night out, watching Lawrence Welk and Guy Lombardo on the television before they left.In 1968 at the age of 38, Doris passed away in Dean’s arms on the dance floor of the Riviera Ballroom in Janesville, IA during the Nashua Fireman’s Ball. The unexpected shock had a forever impact on Dean and his four then teenagers.
Over the years, all the while farming Dean also worked with his brother-in-law for Norton Homes building houses around the Midwest. He worked for Gabe Implement of Greene, IA as an equipment salesman and he was employed by Oliver at the tractor plant in Charles City, IA. He custom corn shelled and harvested as well as hiring out with his back-hoe.
Dean enjoyed his many cars, pic-ups, motorcycles, collecting farm machinery including wagons, plows, threshing machines and more but especially TRACTORS!!! Over the course of many years, Dean and his family hosted “Threshing Reunions at the farm. Winter sledding parties were fun favorites. He played the steel guitar and strummed his banjo a lick but not two. He was a storyteller. He always laughed at the many jokes he told. He dressed up as Santa with a hardy “HO HO HO” for many generations of kids. He was a lover of parties and parades and the receiving end of presents. He liked a big garden. Planting and digging hay racks full of potatoes with his vintage potato planter and digger. He never met a stranger that didn’t become a friend. He was known as a sharp dresser, loved his music, was good at freehand pencil sketching planes and automobiles. Loved him some poetry and flowers. Wearing his gold-rimmed sunglasses. Dancing with his arms in the air, a cigarette in one hand and a Seagram’s and 7 in the other. He loved his dogs, Herman, Dooby, and Just Dog. He had quite a gun collection and had taught his oldest son and daughter to shoot at a young age. Dean was all about target shooting. You either liked him or you didn’t and if you didn’t he never believed it. He wasn’t a giving kind of guy and that he admitted later in life. He donated his body to science, proving to be generous in the end.
In the spring of 1969 Dean and Judith Butzloff Strom were married and Judy’s three daughters and one son became part of the blended family. By this time Dean’s oldest son and daughter each married and started their own families leaving six kids at home with the couple. The sledding, holiday, birthday, and threshing parties continued. After the kids were raised and had families of their own, Dean eventually rented out the farms and he and Judy moved to Waverly, IA. Dean and Judy joined the Good Sams RV Club and thoroughly enjoyed touring the US in their motor home. However, they eventually grew apart and divorced.
Dean moved to Nashua and later back out to the farm acreage. He kept busy working on his farms, mowing his lawn, going back and forth from town, visiting his neighbors and kids and having coffee at the Townhouse in Nashua and the Hide-a-way in Ionia. He spent 8 years with his companion, Krystal Vorwald from Frederika, IA. Driving around in his pickup was an everyday occurrence. He’d roll down the window and you could hear George Strait “All My Exes Live in Texas” clear down the block! At the age of 87, he realized a life-time dream of learning to tap dance and completed a routine to the Mills Brothers Cab Driver. Even with Dementia and Alzheimer’s his sense of humor was there but harder to find in his days while living at Cedar Vale Assisted Living in Nashua. The staff could bring out the lighter side better than family. He loved his family, grandkids, great-grandkids, and great great grandkids. He read his Bible. He was active in church at different times in his life. He was quiet about his faith but the staff at Linn Haven said he was often found on his knees praying before bed. When asked what the most important thing in life was he said: “forgiveness, giving it and receiving it...you can’t love without it and God has to help us with that, we can’t do it on our own.” When the kids were young and they’d be sick he would ask them, “What do you have, the heat & quillies or the magraina?” We’d have to choose one. A few days before he passed, we asked him, “Dad, what do you think you have, the heat & quillies or the magraina? He laughed and laughed and said “both!”
He is survived by his sons Steve (Teresa) Pattschull of Nashua, Danny (Carrie) Pattschull of Charles City, and daughter Sandra Steinlage of Ionia. Brother-in-law Melvin Schiller of OshKosh, WI, sister-in-law Delores Flurry of Pascagoula, MS. Grandchildren: Teffany (Craig) Sinnwell, Rachael (John) Moore, Tina (Tim) McMurchy, Heath (Beth) Pattschull, Klinton Kraft (Megan Strickland) (Jennifer Kraft), Jamie Mueller, Brent (Erica) Steinlage, Brian (Rachel) Steinlage. Great Grandchildren: Ashley Halverson, Courtney (Andy) Sisson, Austin and Morgan McMurchy, Dillon and Sarah Pattschull, Ethan and Abbie Kraft, Carter, Paige, and Carley Steinlage, Morgan, MacKenzie and Max Steinlage. Great great-grandchildren Kolton and Penelope Sisson. Stepchildren: Becky Hinch, Jeanette (Bruce) Miller, Roger Strom, Peggy Fisher, and families. Many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his son Larry in infancy, his wife Doris, his daughter Dianne(Bill) Vereschagin, daughter-in-law Dorothy (Steve) Pattschull, son-in-law Alan (Sandra) Steinlage, brother Everette and sister-in-law Maxine Pattschull, sister Irene and brother-in-law Leo Nickolas, his second wife Judith (Victor) Fosse.
