Ronald Chindlund

Ronald Chindlund, 84, of Storm Lake died Friday, Nov. 10, 2023 at Methodist Manor in Storm Lake. Funeral services will take place Saturday, Nov. 18, at 2 p.m. at Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery in Alta. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the funeral home in Storm Lake.

Ronald Chindlund was born in Storm Lake on Feb. 27, 1939 to Conrad and Frances (Langner) Chindlund at Swallum Hospital. From the ages of one to six, Ronald lived in Storm Lake. When he turned seven, his family moved to the Fairview community northwest of Storm Lake. Ronald graduated from Fairview School, Class of 1957. He married the former AnnaBelle Rassler in St. John’s Lutheran Church in Storm Lake on Dec. 28, 1958.

Upon graduation Ronald went to work for DeKalb Corn Processors in Storm Lake, where his dad Conrad, had also worked. In the fall of 1957, he began working for Peterson & Co. General Merchandise and Grocery in Alta. This was followed by his beginning as a carpenter for Edwin Buckendahl General Contractor of Alta. When Wilson and Co. opened in Cherokee in 1965, he began working there for the next 40 and a half years before retiring in 2006. Ronald and AnnaBelle lived in their home in Cherokee for 28 years before moving to their current home near the lake in 2018, where he lived until the time of his passing.

Along the way, he enjoyed his dogs, Spike who perished in a barn fire and the family farm, and his Collie Gus along with several others and his last Xanadu II, a Lhasa Apso which was his great pleasure.

He was a humble man, quiet, unassuming. He enjoyed the outdoors, hiking, the hills and county parks near our home in Peterson before moving into their 1892 mail order Queen Anne Victorian Home in Sutherland.

After moving to Cherokee in 1986, he could indulge in gardening again. He was so proud that our yard received Yard of the Month twice and was host to the City of Cherokee Garden Tour.

Our son Scott Wade was born March 11, 1962. On July 6, 1963, Scott departed for Heaven. Son Troy Ronald was born April 12, 1963 and passed away in Cherokee on July 30, 2010. Following our loss of Scottie, we moved from Alta to Peterson and then to Sutherland where we raised our family in our 1892 Queen Anne Victorian home. Ron took great pride in restoring it. We moved back to Storm Lake in 1982, our hometown area, until moving to Cherokee in 1986 where we stayed until retiring and moving back to our present home in Storm Lake in 2018 after 32 years.

He loved to travel in our C-J5 Jeep or Annie’s convertible through the River Valley Hills on his motorcycle. We toured Missouri, Colorado several times, Utah, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wisconsin as well as a childhood trip to Arizona. He also was pleased to be a balloon chase team during Storm Lake Balloon races because he knew the area and we had a CB before cell phones to be in touch with the captains.

He belonged to Union UFC Local 179 for 40 and a half years, he retired from IBP which began life as Wilson Foods, Inc. After retirement he became reluctant gardener, a willing gardener and after moving back to Storm Lake a knowledgeable and relentless gardener, where he enjoyed the fruits of his labor, sitting for hours in his backyard, feeding squirrels and the birds which he did up to a week before his passing.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents: Emil and Ada (Johnson) Chindlund; and Fred and Martha (Hintz) Langner; parents, Conrad and Frances (Langner) Chindlund; sister Phyllis (Chindlund) Rehnstrom; brother-in-law Merrill Rehnstrom; parents-in-law, Albert Rassler and Isabel Rassler Anderson; brothers-in-law: Ed Rassler, Ray Rassler and Jerry Buckendahl; Kelly Meyer; sisters-in-law: Vernice Buckendahl and Velma Totten; and sons, Scott Wade Chindlund and Troy Ronald Chindlund.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years and 10 months, AnnaBelle (Rassler) Chindlund; daughter Juli Renee (Chindlund) and Scott Tanner; son Russell Dean and Mary (Halverson) Chindlund; son Cory Lee and Angie (Heller) Chindlund; grandchildren: Thomas and Ann (Golladay) Moore, April Chindlund, Josh and Katie (Wischmeyer) Chindlund, Shannon and Cheyenne (McClain) Chindlund, Kevin Chindlund, Matthew Chindlund, Laura Tanner, Erik Tanner, Nathan Tanner (Fiancée Megan Gilchrist), Amanda Chindlund, Kate Chindlund, Ryan Chindlund, Ashley and Brian Osborne, Benjamin and Tyler (Beetler) Bordwell, Tiffany (Chindlund) and Brian Press, Allison (Chindlund) and Joel Deweerd, Cheyenne (Chindlund) and Trent Morton, Victoria Chindlund, Caleb Chindlund, Clay Pleggenkuhle, Cole and Allison (Schimmer) Pleggenkuhle, Sarah (Pleggenkuhle) and John Elliot and Cody Johnson; brother-in-law Ken and Becky Rassler; sisters-in-law, Nadine Meyer and Margaret Anderson; numerous nieces and nephews; 27 great-grandchildren; and two precious great-great-grandchildren. Amen. God has blessed us all.

For 65 years, we’ve been blessed, we may not have made the anniversary date by a couple of months, but we’ve been a part of each other’s lives for more than those 65 years. Since we danced to Duke Ellington at the Cobb to celebrate our Aug. 7 engagement, because we danced the last dance Cobblestone held the night it closed, it would have been so fitting to finish at Cobblestone with a big celebration since we danced so much of our life and Cobb is in the process of reopening after sitting dormant for all their years. It was for us a case of “Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?” Rest in peace my Beloved, Ron.