Duane A. Vetter

Duane Arthur Vetter was born March 16, 1932, at rural Westside, Iowa, the son of Walter and Amelia Vetter. He passed away Monday, April 24, 2017, at Eventide Lutheran Home in Denison, Iowa, at the age of eighty-five.
Duane was baptized into Christ at Zion Lutheran Church in Arcadia April 10, 1932, and was confirmed there April 14, 1946. He received his education in the schools near his home and was a 1950 graduate of Westside High School. In 1951, he took a trip with Wes Stoelk, Glenn Lenz and Ralph Gehlsen in Wesley’s Model T Ford open-aired pickup truck to Pigeon River, Canada.
Duane served his country in the United States Army as a vehicle mechanic with the A Battery C 14th Armored Field Artillery Battalion from June 1, 1953, until May 22, 1955. He was stationed in Mainz, Germany.
On May 27, 1962, he was united in marriage to LuCille Comstock at Zion Lutheran Church in Denison. They were blessed with the birth of four children: Alan, Brian, Cathy, and Russell. They settled on a farm northeast of Manilla where Duane enjoyed farming and feeding cattle. Following retirement, they moved to Denison in 1992.
Attending tractor shows and threshing shows were favorite pastimes. Duane was very involved in the church serving as an elder at Trinity Lutheran Church in Manilla and at Zion Lutheran Church in Denison. His television favorites were RFDTV, Mollie B’s Polka Show, and Guy Lombardo. The past ten years he enjoyed the company of his dear friend Virgie Henningsen. They traveled many places together. During a trip to Germany Virgie surprised Duane by taking him to his former military base in Mainz.
Duane was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, LuCille in 1997; and one granddaughter, Laura. Survivors include: three sons, Alan and his wife, Cheryl, Brian and his wife, Diane, and Russell and his wife, Teri; one daughter, Cathy and her husband, George; ten grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and four sisters, Darleen, Virgene, Sandra, and Diane; other relatives and friends.