LaVerne 'Vern' Seeks

LA VERNE "VERN" R. SEEKS

Marion

La Verne "Vern" R. Seeks 101, passed away Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, at Hearten House I in La Crosse, Wis., after a brief illness.

Vern was born in Marion, Iowa, on July 2, 1915, the seventh of eight children to James and Rosa (Klopp) Seeks. Raised on a small vegetable farm just west of Marion, the family subsisted on what could be raised or grown. Everything else was sold to neighbors or in town. With one horse they called "Fossie" pulling the wagon loaded with vegetables, the older boys walked while everyone else rode in the wagon. Off they went twice a week for the four-mile journey to town.

Vern's father was 44 and mother 38 when Vern was born, so he was raised by his older sisters. When the youngest was born, the oldest was 19 but all would remain very close over the years.

He graduated from Marion High School in 1933 and married Helen Gage on Sept. 6, 1936. Together they set out on a journey to California in 1937, right in the middle of the Great Depression, looking to find a job as finding work anywhere was a job by itself. When the California job didn't pan out they packed up and went north to the Oregon lumber mills.

It wasn't long before Helen became pregnant with their first son, Robert. Tired and homesick, they set off hitchhiking back to Iowa and the comfort of family. They never strayed far from home after that. The Depression didn't break them but it left its imprint on their lives that would continue all their 54 years together. Helen passed away in 1990.

Later in life he was known to say of those hard times, "I often went to bed at night wondering if I would ever have two nickels to rub together." Vern never threw away anything that had a remote possibility of a future use, even including the 100 plastic cookie containers he saved from the grocery store bakery. There are still thousands of ill-fitting nuts and bolts stored in a cabinet that he would have taken with him, just in case.

As a very young boy he remembered the troop trains of World War I carrying soldiers to the West Coast and he proudly stood on the hill behind the farm waving a small flag as the trains traveled west. He was sure one day he would get his chance though his mother said it was the war to end all wars. By the time the second war came he had two small children, so his active duty service in the Army was brief, and was followed by several years in the Navy Reserve with his younger brother.

He worked at Otis Elevator as an area manager for seven years during a career that spanned 40 years. Most of his career at Otis was spent as a mechanic, a job he enjoyed the most because he was best suited with a tool in his hands and a little grease on his chin.

His hobbies were many and most were successful, including woodworking, gardening, playing the organ, singing, bowling and golf until he was 98. He went fishing in Canada nearly every year for 65 years. Besides Marion, he lived in Cedar Falls, Des Moines, Bettendorf and Davenport, where he was active in the Masons and Shriners. He was president of the Kaabba Clowns when being a clown was fun and not made to be scary. He often traveled the Midwest with Helen as a member of club and barbershop.

He will be remembered for his warm natural smile and never failing to say "thank you" to all those who cared for him.

He was a lifelong member of the Methodist Church and self-taught on the Sunday School organ.

He is survived by one son, Richard, and his wife, Carla, of Onalaska, Wis.; and Sandra Seeks of Fountain Valley, Calif., wife of his son, Robert Seeks (deceased); and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren in California, Iowa and Illinois.

A funeral service celebrating Vern's life will be at 11 a.m. Monday, Dec. 19, at Cedar Memorial Park Chapel of Memories. Burial, with military honors, will be in Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be from 10 to 11 a.m. Monday at the chapel.

Online condolences may be left at www.cedarmemorial.com under obituaries.