Lloyd Degen

Lloyd Laverne Degen, 90, passed away peacefully on Friday March 22, 2013 at the St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Sioux City from complications following a fractured hip.
Lloyd, most recently a resident of the Hillcrest Health Care Center in Hawarden, was born on Sept. 30, 1922 in Chatsworth, where he lived until 1935 when his parents, Adam (Audie) Degen (a barber) and Laura Iverson Anderson Degen (a teacher), moved their young family to Hawarden.
He attended grammar school in Chatsworth and secondary school in Hawarden, where he was also confirmed as a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church. He recalled with fondness the time he spent as a child on his paternal grandparents' farm near Chatsworth. Lloyd was employed at Albertson and Company in Sioux City from 1939 to 1942.
When World War II commenced, he joined the Army's Signal Corps and was trained to set up communication lines. His unit was one of the first to arrive on Omaha Beach in Normandy after the initial D-Day invasion. Lloyd was awarded 3 Bronze Stars for his military service.
After receiving an honorable discharge, Lloyd followed his older brother Bill to California where he put his signal corps training to use as an employee of General Telephone and Electronics, at the time the largest independent telephone company in the U.S.
He rose to an upper management position in that company, which in the 1970's sent him to Tehran, Iran to set up telephone systems there. Lloyd escaped on one of the last planes to leave Iran after the shah was deposed in 1979.
In California Lloyd lived a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean in Manhattan Beach and played golf regularly, beginning in the 1950's. According to his nephew, Paul, he 'worked his way up to a respectable handicap.' He enjoyed many happy holidays with Bill and Bette's family in Long Beach until he moved back to Hawarden in 1999, where he was pleased to spend time with the families of his sisters Margaret and Carol and brother Norman. Lloyd also enjoyed doing crossword puzzles, attending concerts, walking, and following his great-nieces and great-nephews many activities.
He was preceded in death by his parents and his four siblings: William (Bill) Degen (Long Beach, CA.), L. Norman Degen and Margaret Hill of Hawarden, and Carol McGregor (Salem, SD); and his brother-in-law, Bill Hill and sister-in-law, Bette Degen. He is survived by a brother-in-law, Edd McGregor of Salem, SD; a sister-in-law, Betty Degen of Hawarden; 15 nieces and nephews; and many great-nieces and great-nephews.
A memorial service will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Hawarden on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. with Rev. Todd Bunge officiating. Inurnment will take place at the Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis at a later date.