Merle O. Bruggeman

Merle O. Bruggeman, age 77, of Glidden, Iowa, passed away on Friday, January 20, 2012 at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll surrounded by his immediate family. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Monday, January 23, 2012 at the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home in Glidden with Chaplain Peg Scheidt of St. Anthony Regional Hospital officiating. Visitation will be held at the funeral home from 10:00 A.M. until the time of service on Monday. Burial will be in the Merle Hay Memorial Cemetery near Glidden with military honors conducted by the Merle Hay Post of the American Legion. Casket bearers will be John Lauridsen, Jay Lauridsen, Jeff Lauridsen, Jeremy Lauridsen, Jacob Bruggeman, and Emily Bruggeman. Born on April 11, 1934 at Arcadia, Iowa, he was the son of Otto and Ethel (Liechti) Bruggeman. He attended school in Arcadia. He served in the Army from 1953 until 1955. Following his military career he worked on his family’s farm before going to Ft. Dodge to work at the Avco New Idea Manufacturing Plant 1n 1957. Merle was married to Donna Meiners on April 11, 1958 in Ft. Dodge. The family moved back to Carroll County in 1972 and worked in the farming and trucking industry. Merle and Donna moved back to Glidden in 1993 and he retired in 2000. Merle enjoyed his family, fishing, camping, and his Scottish Terrier, Cleo. Merle is survived by his wife Donna of 53 years of Glidden; a daughter Joyce Lauridsen and her husband John of Ames; two sons: Ron Bruggeman and his wife Glenda of Panora, Iowa, and Larry Bruggeman and his wife Natalie of Glidden; eight grandchildren: Elissa, Emily, and Jacob Bruggeman, Jay, Jeffrey, and Jeremy Lauridsen, Michael Bruggeman, and Becky Troja; four great grandchildren; two sisters Norma Jean Shank of Kewanee, Illinois, and Ruth Campbell of Fort Dodge, Iowa; a sister-in-law Mary Rungee and her husband Ed of Huber Heights, Ohio; and several nieces and nephews. Merle was preceded in death by his parents and an infant brother Larry.