Richard “Dick” St. Clair, age 68, died Tuesday at the Greene County Medical Center where he was receiving care from Hospice of Central Iowa.
A funeral service to celebrate his life was held Saturday, July 30, at Faith Bible Church, Panora. The family requests no flowers, and asks that memorials be given to Faith Bible Church youth missions.
The family was assisted by Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home of Jefferson.
Richard “Dick” St. Clair was born March 10, 1948 to Ernest “Wink” St. Clair and Ellen Hasty St. Clair in Jefferson, Iowa.
Dick grew up on the family farm near Cooper and graduated from Jefferson High School in 1966. He began farming after graduation and joined the Iowa National Guard. In 1968 Dick married Joan Parr and they had two sons, Mike and Rod. In 1979 he moved his young family to the family farm where he lived until his death.
While farming was always Dick’s first love, later he pursued other agricultural passions. He graduated from the Worldwide School of Auctioneering in 1992, started an alfalfa hay cooperative and invested in top-of-the-line Hereford show cattle.
In his late years he married his best friend and love, Rosalee. They traveled, sang together and loved spending time with their grandchildren. Dick and Rosalee loved to attend the many activities of their grandchildren including numerous piano recitals, vocal music concerts and sporting events.
Dick had a passion for life, and was always ready for a good story or joke. He was a man of faith and family and was not shy about telling and sharing with others his belief in salvation. Over the years he gave many hours of his time serving the church as an elder, youth group leader, board chair and men’s group leader.
Dick also served for a number of years on the Greene County Fair board while Mike and Rod were in 4-H. Later he assisted his grandchildren as they entered their own 4-H projects, and was ever-present in the cattle barn as they showed their steers and heifers in both county and the Iowa State Fair. Dick was also known for his community activism, service to other civic organizations, and for serving as the auctioneer at a great number of fundraising events.
Dick passed away on June 28, 2016 at Greene County Medical Center in Jefferson under the care of Hospice of Central Iowa. He was 68 years of age. Preceding him in death were his parents, and an infant son, Christopher.
Survivors include his wife; his sister Jane (Bob) Thomas of Mt. Ayr; his sons Michael (Mary) St. Clair of Ankeny and Rodney St. Clair of Jefferson; stepchildren Teresa (Michael) Ross and Christopher (Jen) Graham of Des Moines; 12 grandchildren; 1 great-grandchild; niece Angie (Jim) Pearl of Boise, ID; nephew Sean (Jennifer) Thomas of Apple Valley, MN; and many friends.
