Richard Westrum

RICHARD WESTRUM, age 88 of Waseca died on Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at Foxdale in Waseca.

Born on May 11, 1929 in Albert Lea, Minnesota, he was the son of Edgar and Nora (Kipp) Westrum.  He attended school in Albert Lea, graduating in 1947.  He went on to attend the University of Minnesota where he graduated in 1951 with degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration.  He was a professional registered mechanical engineer in the state of Minnesota.

On November 9, 1950 he married Elaine Tuchtenhagen at First Lutheran Church in Albert Lea.  They had four children, Kay, Cheryl, Julie and Kipp.  Dick enjoyed hunting, fishing, golf, skiing, water skiing, and rollerblading.  Dick and Elaine enjoyed traveling the US and Europe.

In 1959 Dick joined the E.F. Johnson Company in Waseca and eventually became Vice President of Manufacturing and Operations.  He received the WCCO Good Neighbor Award in September of 1982.  In 1983 he started Terra-Therm, Inc. in New Richland, distributing geothermal heat pumps.

Dick was active at Faith United Methodist Church in Waseca where he was chairman of the Trustee, Finance, Building and Memorial committees.  In the civic area, he was President of Lakeside Golf Club, Waseca Sportsman Club and was a member of the Waseca School Board and the Waseca Chamber of Commerce.  He was also Chairman of the Board of Tenmakers Youth Ministries and was active in the Cursillo Christian Program as a leader and speaker in many weekend programs.

Dick is survived by his wife, Elaine of Waseca; son, Kipp (Brenda) Westrum of New Richland; daughters, Kate (Frank) Pruitt of  Dillon, CO and Cheryl (Dick) Bressler of Indian Wells, CA; and two grandchildren, Hailey and Mitchell.   He is also survived by one brother, John (Cookie) Westrum of Apple Valley and several nieces and nephews.   He was preceded in death by his parents; one daughter, Julie; brothers, Robert, Kenneth, and Edgar; and sister, Marion.

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