Richard E. Sandage Sr.

MASON CITY: R.E. Dick Sandage, Sr., 88, died Saturday, August 22, 2009, at the Iowa Odd Fellows Home in Mason City, where he was under the care of Hospice of North Iowa.\r\n
Richard Elmont Sandage was born December 2, 1920, in Walthill, Neb., on the Omaha Indian Reservation. His mother, Ruth Matilda Barada, was of Omaha tribal descent, and his father, Joseph Oliver Sandage, Sr., came from Indiana. The youngest of seven, Dick attended school on the reservation and later in Sioux City, Iowa. During the Great Depression, he dropped out of eighth grade to join the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal work program for young men. He was assigned to Camp Malvern, Iowa, and received $5 per month pay, plus $25 sent directly home to his mother.\r\n
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on December 15, 1941, a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor. With only six weeks of basic training (which did not include teaching him to swim) at Great Lakes, Ill., he shipped out of Boston, Mass., on the U.S.S. Biscayne, a seaplane tender. The Biscayne saw action in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, participating in the invasions of North Africa, France, Sicily, Anzio, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and in the occupation of the Philippines. Dick was honorably discharged as an Electricians First Mate, with a good conduct medal and three campaign ribbons, in October 1947. He loved telling navy stories, laughing about shipboard hijinks rather than recounting sea battles.\r\n
While on shore leave in the fall of 1945, he met Shirley Marie Farrer in Mason City, and they were married at the First Christian Church on February 10, 1946. Dick earned a high-school equivalency diploma and, in 1947, found work in the power plant at Peoples Gas & Electric (later Interstate Power and now Alliant Energy) on South Delaware Ave. He retired with 38 years service in 1985. He also held many part-time jobs to support what he called my hobby staying out of debt. He was proud of taking only nine years to pay off the 30-year mortgage on the house at 842 6th Place S.E., which he and Shirley built with their own hands.\r\n
In retirement, Dick went every day to the Mason City Public Library and the Senior Citizens Center, and he worshiped every Sunday at the First Christian Church. During summers, he logged more than 2,000 miles riding the bicycle path between Mason City and Clear Lake. He also attended annual reunions of the U.S.S. Biscayne crew and spent holidays and summer visits with family on the East Coast. \r\n
In February 2003, he moved into the Iowa Odd Fellows Home. He was a 60-year member of that organization and also joined the Elks and Moose clubs, the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Always a very private man, he nevertheless loved talking to people and struck up conversations with strangers everywhere he went. He laughed loudly and easily but could not tell jokes he always broke up before getting to the punchline.\r\n
He is survived by his wife of 63 years: Shirley M. Sandage, of Frederick, Md.; by three sons: Richard E. Chip Sandage, Jr., of Frederick; John B. Sandage and partner Gregory D. Blackley, of Vienna, Austria; and Scott A. Sandage, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; by two grandchildren: Autumn M. Sandage, of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Christopher M. Sandage, of Stafford, Va.; and by many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers, and three sisters.\r\n
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, September 25, 2009, in the front parlor at the Odd Fellows Home, with military rites and inurnment at Rock Grove Cemetery, Nora Springs. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Hospice of North Iowa, 232 2nd St. S.E., Mason City, Ia. 50401.