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Darel Burns, 93, of Storm Lake passed away in his home with his family at his side on Sept. 12, 2025.
Memorial Mass will take place Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Storm Lake. Burial will be in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery. Visitation will be held Tuesday, Sept. 16, from 5-7 p.m. at Fratzke & Jensen Funeral Home in Storm Lake. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to St. Mary's Catholic School in Storm Lake or St. Croix Hospice.
Darel Dean Burns was born Nov. 5, 1931, on a farm Northeast of Sac City. He was baptized and confirmed at Grace Lutheran Church, Marathon. Shortly after his birth his parents moved to rural Marathon. He began his education at Lincoln Lee Consolidated School, located a few miles east of Rembrandt. While in the second grade his parents moved to a farm Southeast of Marathon. He graduated from Marathon Consolidated High School in 1949. He attended Iowa State College the fall of 1949 and again the fall of 1950.
On Feb. 4, 1952, he entered the United States Army. He attended basic and advanced basic training at Fort Bliss Texas. After completion of his training he was sent to the 420th Antiaircraft Battalion located on the West side of Puget Sound near Seattle, Wash. This unit later became the 513th AAA Bn.
After two years of active duty he was discharged and returned to his parent’s home in Marathon. He then purchased a livestock and grain truck and started Burns Trucking in Linn Grove. It was here that he met the love of his life, Kay Ann Graff. On Easter Sunday 1955, he joined the Catholic Church. Kay and Darel were married Aug. 15, 1955, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Sioux Rapids. They moved to Maxwell where Kay taught fifth grade and he enrolled at Iowa State College in pursuit of a BS degree in civil engineering.
In the summer of 1956 they purchased a small house trailer and moved into Pammel Court, a married student housing area at Iowa State College. He received his BS degree in civil engineering in June 1958. He served two years as assistant county engineer for Hancock County, Garner. After receiving his professional engineering license in civil engineering and land surveying, he was a staff engineer for Kruse Engineering in Spencer. He was next employed as county engineer for Audubon County.
In February 1963 he began employment with the Buena Vista County Secondary Road Department as drainage engineer and assistant county engineer. He enjoyed the challenge of the design, supervision and construction of drainage and highway projects. He retired from this position on June 30, 1994. Over the next three years he worked for FEMA assessing damage to roads, bridges and government buildings from natural disasters at various locations in the United States.
Preceding him in death were his parents, Clifford and Ruth Burns; his parents-in-law, Peter and Anna Graff; an older brother, James Albert Burns; and a number of brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law.
Surviving Darel are his wife of 70 years, Kay Ann Burns; his children: Cindy (Richard) Sippel, Michele (Shannon) Kelly, Patti (Richard) Wolff, Thomas (Barbara) Burns and Paula Burns (Mike Ellis); 12 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren; in addition to numerous nieces, nephews and cousins; as well as his sister Shirley Smith and brother Nyle Burns, and one sister-in-law, Nan Graff.
