RICHARD “DICK” WIEDENFELD

Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 21, 2023, at Holy Trinity Church in Fort Dodge, Iowa with Fr. Ross Caniglia officiating the Mass of Christian Burial. A visitation will be one hour prior at the church. Laufersweiler-Sievers Funeral Home is serving the family.

Dick was born March 27, 1926 in Hartington, Nebraska. He grew up on a farm near Merrill, Iowa. His family moved to Sioux City during his junior year in high school where he attended Trinity High School. After graduating from Trinity in 1944, he was drafted into the Army and served in the field artillery in Italy during WWII. Following the war he studied and played basketball at both Creighton University and Morningside College before graduating from Morningside with a degree in business administration in 1951.

While attending Morningside in Sioux City Dick met Mary DeWitt, a beauty from tiny Florence, Minnesota. On December 27, 1949 they wed, and remained happily married for over 67 years until Mary’s death in 2017. They raised four children.

Dick’s career included coaching and teaching mathematics and accounting in the following Iowa high schools: Cornell Consolidated, Truesdale, Pocahontas Catholic, Carroll Kuemper Catholic, and Saint Edmond of Fort Dodge. Dick has been inducted into the Morningside College Hall of Fame as both a player and coach, and also into the Iowa High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. He was a life member of the VFW, a volunteer driver for the DAV, and a member of the Knights of Columbus. His greatest joy was his family, who are forever grateful to him for his love and guidance. He shared many wonderful experiences with each of them. Dick also enjoyed his friends, the players he coached, the students and faculties he worked with, along with his love of hunting, fishing, golfing, dancing, and riding the Harley.

Dick is survived by son Mark (Ann) Wiedenfeld of Urbandale, Iowa, his daughter Gayle (Ken) Gilbaugh of Coralville, Iowa, five grandchildren, and one great grandchild. He was preceded in death by his wife Mary, his daughter Marcia, his son Gary (Kristin), his parents, and all six brothers and sisters.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be left in Dick’s name to Saint Edmond High School and the Fort Dodge Public Library.