Van R. Wasson

Moline, Illinois Van R. Wasson, 77, of Moline, well-known Quad City businessman and civic leader, died Sunday, November 28, 2004, in Trinity Medical Center, Rock Island. Services are 11 a.m. Wednesday at Riverside United Methodist Church, Moline. Cremation will follow the services and interment will be in Fairlawn Cemetery, Decatur, Illinois. Visitation is 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Trimble Funeral and Cremation Center, Moline. Memorials may be made to the Scholarship Fund at Riverside United Methodist Church, Moline, or the Two Rivers YMCA, Moline. Van Ralph Wasson was born June 15, 1927, in Decatur, Illinois, the son of Van R. and Cora (Clements) Wasson. He served in the US Navy in the Pacific Theater during WW II. He attended Millikin University, Decatur, and graduated from Bradley University, Peoria. He married Marian Menk on July 29, 1950, in Staunton, Illinois. Van worked for the former Iowa-Illinois Gas and Electric Company for 41 years, starting as a mechanical engineer at the Riverside Power Station in Bettendorf. He later served as District Manager of the Ottumwa District and then District Manager of the Fort Dodge District. He returned to the Quad Cities, and retired as manager of the Energy Supply Department in 1991. Active in community affairs wherever he lived, Van was currently President of the Board of Trustees of Two Rivers YMCA, Moline, Secretary of the United Methodist Church Great Rivers Conference Foundation, and a tutor and member of the Literacy Connection. He was past president of the Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce; Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Industrial Development Board, and United Way Board in Fort Dodge, Iowa; Ottumwa, Iowa, Hospital Board; and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; and was past vice president of the United Way of the Quad Cities. He was an active member of Riverside United Methodist Church, Moline, where he had chaired the Administrative Council and Finance Committee, sang in the choir, and held many other offices, and of the Moline Rotary Club where he was a Paul Harris Fellow and Song Leader. He was a member of Quad Cities Development Corporation, and the Adler Theater Foundation Board, and was a past member of the Friendship Haven Board in Fort Dodge, and the Chamber of Commerce in Ottumwa. Since his retirement 13 years ago, he regularly kept Moline clean by his daily walks of up to four miles picking up litter. He enjoyed Bridge, tennis, wintering in Texas, and playing with his grandchildren. Van is survived by his wife of 54 years, Marian; twin daughters and their husbands, Denise and James Freyenberger of Wayland, Iowa, and Diane and Rev. Len Eberhart of Grinnell, Iowa; two grandchildren, Deidre and Javan Freyenberger; two step-granddaughters and their husbands, Tawnya and Vern Coates and Erin and Shawn McGargill; and brothers, Robert Wasson of Whitehall, Pennsylvania, and John Wasson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was preceded in death by his parents, and sisters, C. Jane Darling and Dorothy Hiser. Remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at www.TrimbleFuneralHomes.com. END OF OBITUARY