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Richard “Dick” Rasmussen passed on Jan. 17, 2024, at New Horizons Care Center, Lovell, Wyoming.
Services will be held at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Lovell, Wyoming at 10 a.m. on Jan. 27, 2024, with burial immediately following at the Deaver-Frannie Cemetery.
Dick was born in Hailey, North Dakota in 1930. Then in 1935, during the Great Depression, he moved to Hettinger, North Dakota with his mother (Esther), father, (Tom) and older brother (Lowell). His brother was called up to serve during World War II. Since Dick didn’t like school, at the age of 16, he began his career as a mechanic and heavy equipment operator, working for various road construction companies. Later, Dick served in the Korean War from 1951-1953 as a supply truck driver, heavy equipment operator and mechanic for the motor pool.
After the war, Dick met his wife to be, Sophie Holz in Aberdeen, South Dakota. They were later married in 1956. Dick then took a job with Rohr Aircraft in Chula Vista, California. While there, they had their first daughter, Diane and second daughter, Linda. Getting tired of the lifestyle of the West Coast, Dick packed up the family and moved to Frannie, Wyoming in 1962, amidst a record winter storm with temperatures in the negative 20s. His third daughter, Joyce was later born in 1965.
While in Frannie, Dick worked numerous jobs as a mechanic and heavy equipment operator for Warren Rock Quarry, was a Conoco gas station owner, worked at the Lovell sugar factory, Muller Construction and lastly, American Colloid. In 1993, his wife of 37 years, Sophie, passed away. Dick retired from Colloid the following year and began working part-time with his family at Wagner Farms and Bryant Wedin Trucking.
Dick is survived by his three grandchildren, Dustin (Ali) Wagner, Dani (Colter) VanLake and Devan (Tawna) Wagner, 11 great-grandchildren, two surviving daughters, Diane (Daren) Wagner and Joyce (John) Stillwell and son-in-heart, Bryant (Sherrie) Wedin.
