John T. Osnes

FOREST CITY - John Osnes, age 86 of Forest City, died Monday, September 19, 2011 at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, MN. Funeral service will be held at 10:30 AM on Friday, September 23, 2011 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Forest City with Pastor Rod Hopp officiating. Burial will be at Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Rake, Iowa with Graveside Military Rites by Forest City American Legion Post 121. Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 PM on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at Petersen Lund Funeral Home 505 N Clark Street in Forest City and will continue an hour prior to service at the church. John Thyron Osnes II, 86, was born June 3, 1925, the second child of Barbara (Pederson) and John Osnes on a farm called the "Forty" near Garner, Iowa. . He graduated from Ventura High School in 1942 and served in the Navy from 1944 to 1946. One of the highpoints of his life was taking the Honor Flight last year to Washington, D.C. to tour the WWII Memorial. After his discharge from the Navy, he attended Waldorf College where he received a liberal arts degree and then St. Olaf where he graduated in 1949 with a degree in physics. He attended Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota for a year, at which ...[more]

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nt he decided not to pursue the ministry. He first met his future wife, Betty Havnen Osnes, while at Waldorf. They married in 1951 and had three children, John III, Kris, and Mary Beth. He worked as a lineman for the Winnebago Co-op Telephone Co., moving to Madelia, Minnesota to manage the telephone company there from 1956 to 1959. In 1959, he accepted a supervisory position for the Central Telephone Company in Fairmont, Minnesota. In 1967, the family relocated to Madelia where John served as the Administrator of Luther Memorial Home. In 1973, he returned to Forest City, Iowa, after purchasing what would become Osnes T.V. and Stereo. He retired in 2003 at the age of 80. He died on September 19, 2011. He is preceded in death by his mother, father, and son, John III, along with siblings Virgil, Thelen, Paul, Russell, and Janis, as well as his beloved cocker spaniel, Lady. He is survived by daughters Kris and Mary, sisters Arlet and B.J., as well as several nieces, nephews, and their children. John was a kind and caring person who participated in numerous church and civic activities, and who helped people whenever and however he could. He will be missed. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be sent either to Fairview Foundation [Transplant Center],
 2200 Riverside Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55454, 612-672-7777 or Immanuel Lutheran Church, 246 S Clark St., Forest City, IA 50436, 641-484-3152.