Richard "Dick" Woodley

Richard “Dick” F. Woodley, age 82 of Dike, passed peacefully on Saturday, June 8, 2019 at Creekside Living in Grundy Center.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at St. Gabriel Catholic Church, County Rd T55 (U Ave), Reinbeck. Visitation will be from 4:00 to 7:00 P.M. on Monday at the Abels Funeral and Cremation Service – Dike Chapel and continue for one hour prior to services at the church on Tuesday. Burial will be held at a later date. Memorials may be directed to Cedar Valley Hospice.

Richard was born November 27, 1936 at home in Doughterty, Iowa, son of Ray and Maggie Woodley.  He met the love of his life Nancy Hagge.  They were married on November 28, 1959 at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Ames, Iowa.

Richard loved Iowa and small town living.  He graduated from Hansell High School in 1955.  Growing up on a farm, he always had a great work ethic.  He worked briefly at Chapin Hardware in Hampton, Ia.

Dick initially attended the University of Iowa then graduated with a teaching degree from Mankato State.  He taught at Dike High School from 1961 through 1968.  He was a jack of all trades.  He also worked at Kaser Construction and sold mobile homes in Minnesota at Suburban Homes and  Northland Homes.  In 1969, he opened his Countryside Homes Sales east of Dike and later opened  second location in Waterloo.   He found he had a knack for selling and went on to sell  mobile homes, prebuilt homes, snowmobiles, and used cars.     He owned and operated Koehler Mobile Home Park in Conrad, Iowa.  Later in his career, he worked for the engineering firm AE Com (formerly Brice Petrides).  Dick attempted retirement many times.  After one of the said retirements,  he was employed by FEMA as part of the team that prepared and arranged for temporary housing for hundreds of displaced families after Hurricane Francis hit Florida in 2004.

Recanting fishing tales of fishing expeditions in Minnesota and Canada was a favorite pastime.   The flying bug bit Dick.  He obtained his private pilot’s license and instrument rating.  He even survived an airplane crash in the hills of Arkansas! He loved going to the EAA event in Oshkosh every July.

While winters were spent in Sun City, Florida and summers in his cabin on Pike Bay in Minnesota, he was especially fond of living in his community in Dike Iowa for over 55 years.  He held a seat on the Dike School Board from 1974 to 1983.  He was a charter member of the Dike Lions Club.   He was a faithful member of St Gabriel’s Catholic Church in rural Reinbeck

Richard is survived by his wife whom he adored, Nancy; four children who inherited his cynical sense of humor, Cathy (Dan) Baker, Steve (Jennifer) Woodley, Susie (Ashley Beninga) Woodley, and Mark (Rachael) Woodley; 15 grandchildren who mostly amused him, Jessica, Sam (Tina), Mitchell (Katelyn), Jackson, Natalie, Hannah, Mallory, Anthony, Isaiah, Olivia, Lucy, Gwendlyn, Joshua, Evelyn and Cullen; and 3 great grandchildren Asher, Amelia and Claire, and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters, Beverly Woodley, June Creese and one brother, Darrell “Bud” Woodley.