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Richard (Dick) Merritt
RICHARD (DICK) MERRITT
Anamosa
Richard (Dick) Merritt, 87, died Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke's Hospital after a courageous battle with cancer. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 15, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Anamosa, with interment in the Riverside Cemetery with military honors. Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Goettsch Funeral Home, Anamosa. Thoughts, memories and condolences may be left at www.goettschonline.com. Casual dress for the service is requested.
Survivors include his wife, Pat; his four children, Bill (Ann) Merritt, Brenda (Dirk) Downing, Susan (Lowell Tiedt) Merritt and Jodie (Dan) Ludwig, all of Anamosa; 10 grandchildren, Jesse, Joel, Kalib, Siera, Maya, Avery, Garrett, Kyle, Brian and Aly; two great-grandchildren, Raelyn and Matthew; and two brothers, Bob Merritt and Dennis (Mary) Merritt.
He was preceded in death by his parents; two grandsons, Aidan and Dane Ludwig; two sisters, Geri Christensen and Janet Bickford; and his mother- and father-in-law, Roy and Hazel Kellogg.
Richard Clement Merritt was born April 29, 1930, in Waubeek, Iowa. He was the son of Clement and Evelyn Peterson Merritt. Dick attended Waubeek and Viola schools. He served his country in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. Following his military duty, he returned home, where he worked with Mervin Knapp moving houses. He also was employed at Iowa Manufacturing. Dick married Patricia Kellogg on Aug. 9, 1958, at the Little Brown Church, Nashua. The couple lived for a brief time in Blairstown, where Dick had a livestock-hauling business. They returned to Anamosa, and Dick drove a delivery truck for Anamosa Produce. In 1965, he went to work for Peoples Natural Gas, where he spent 27 years as a service and repair technician. He retired in 1992. In retirement, he bought a skid loader and a dump truck and kept busy doing excavation work.
When he wasn't with his grandchildren, he spent time collecting electric trains, woodworking and making wooden toys. He also enjoyed camping and his horses. Dick and Pat also enjoyed wintering in Texas, Arizona and Florida.
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