August Louis Pontow, 88, Hastings
August Louis Pontow, age 88, of Hastings, passed away on April 27, 2010, at his home in the same bedroom where he was born. Funeral services were held Saturday, May 1, 2010, at St. John’s Lutheran Church, rural Hastings, with military honors and interment at East Liberty Cemetery. Visitation with family present was held Friday, April 30, at the Mansfield-Hertz Funeral Home in Malvern.
The youngest of three children of Anton August and Caroline Ida (Wieland) Pontow, he was born on the family farm in Anderson Township, Mills County, on Sept. 19, 1921. He grew up in the St. John’s Lutheran Church area in rural Hastings, where he was baptized, confirmed and married. As a young boy, Augie was responsible for stoking the fire in the church furnace on Saturday evenings for the Sunday morning services. He attended Golden Hill Country School and graduated from Malvern High School in 1939. Following school, he attended Fryre Aircraft Mechanic School in Omaha and graduated in 1942. He then enlisted in the United States Army and was stationed in France during World War II, and served in the European Theater of Operations.
During the summer of 1941, through an introduction by a mutual friend, Augie met Phyllis Marie Wheeler. While he was home on furlough, he and Phyllis were married on Feb. 25, 1944, at St. John’s Lutheran Church. Their wedding reception was the first one held in the basement of the church. On March 1, 1946, he was honorably discharged and returned home to Iowa.
Augie and Phyllis made their home in Glenwood and briefly in Omaha, until they moved to his parents’ farm in rural Hastings on Feb. 1, 1947. Their marriage was blessed with four children, Jerry Lynn, Jo Anna, Bonnie Kay, and Dale Edward. In addition to farming, he began working in 1960 at the Griffin Pipe Products Company in Council Bluffs, and later retired in 1981, following heart by-pass surgery. He had served as a representative and president of the United Steel Workers of America Local No. 3141 in Council Bluffs.
He was very active at St. John’s and served as a Sunday school teacher for the older Sunday school children. He was a member of the church council and had held the offices of vice president, secretary, treasurer, and served as trustee. He was a charter member of the Dutch Gun Club.
In 1984, he retired from farming and was proud of the “Century Farm” award he received for his family farm in 1988. He enjoyed spending time with friends, family, and grandchildren, who were his greatest joy. Every wedding anniversary, Augie sent Phyllis one red rose for each year they were married. A tradition he managed even while overseas during the war. In February, they celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary and Phyllis received 66 red roses.
Augie was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Ella Henderson and husband Alva “Pete,” and Rosa Scheel and husband Allen; sisters-in-law, Jessie Wheeler, Beulah Inman and husband Herman, Thelma McClurkin and husband Ernest “Mac”; brothers-in-law, Charles Wheeler and wife Helen, William “Bert” Wheeler, and Bruno Leu.
He is survived by his wife Phyllis Pontow of Hastings; children, Jerry Pontow and wife Jeannie, also of Hastings; Jo Anna Perkins and husband Gary of Malvern; Bonnie Corron of West Des Moines; and Dale Pontow and fiancée Debie Rowe, of El Cajon, Calif.; sisters-in-law, Margaret “Peggy” Wheeler of Tabor. and Helen Leu of Nebraska City, Neb.; 11 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews; many other relatives and a host of friends.
A memorial fund has been established.