Darrell Lee Slechta

Darrell Lee Slechta, known to many as “Slick”, was born August 31, 1943 to Chester Slechta and Mabel (Peterson) Riley in Denison, Iowa. He was baptized with his siblings at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Dow City, Iowa and confirmed September 14, 1975 at Zion Lutheran Church in Denison. Darrell received his early education at Linn Grove and Denison Country School. On September 9, 1961, Darrell was united in marriage to Karen Rath and they were blessed with three children: Todd, Mark and Lisa.

As a late teen, Darrell started working for the local bakery , “Olson’s Bakery”. Darrell worked construction around many western Iowa counties and he held the honor of laying the first block at the new IBP Plant in Denison which opened in 1961. In 1970 he started his own construction business called Darrell Slechta Masonry.

Darrell enjoyed baking peanut butter cookies and butter horn rolls. He also enjoyed gardening, traveling with his family in their motorhome and watching CNN. He loved going to Todd and Mark’s jobsites to make sure they were working and getting the job done. Darrell was an entertainer and loved to make sure everyone had a good laugh and a smile on their face. Every time he would leave, he always said, “be good” and that was always his way of telling you that he loved you. Darrell’s grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were very special to him and gave him much pleasure. He also had a special place in his heart for his dog, “Maggie”.

Darrell passed away Friday, December 25, 2020 at Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska with his family around him, attaining the age of seventy-seven years, three months, twenty-five days. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Karen; siblings, Alice, Ruby, Jerry, Brad and Phyllis .

He is survived by his two sons, Todd and Joni, and Mark and Kitty; one daughter, Lisa and Jeff; grandchildren: Darren and Krystin; Megan and Joshua; Morgan and Noe; Landon and Morgan; April and Aaron; Alisa and Josh; Andrea and Dalton; Abby and Kirk; Devyn and Max; great-grandchildren: Jayden, Braxten, Kinnick and Baby Slechta; Jonah, Makena and Jaida; Camila; Brooklyn and Baby Lawrence; Kinnick, Kara, Hayes, Mia and Elise; Miles and Carter; siblings, Dennis and Ellie, Ron and Helen, James and Paulette, Ann, and Mike and Dawn; in-laws, Bob and Darlene, Donna and Cindy; other relatives and friends.

Funeral Service is 11:00 AM on Thursday, December 31, 2020 at Zion Lutheran Church in Denison with visitation one hour before the service from 10:00 – 11:00 AM. Interment is in Crawford Heights Memory Gardens. Memorials may be directed to the family.

We will live-stream the service on our Huebner Funeral Home Facebook page. The video will start at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday so please refresh your page if you do not see it at that time.