Dick Fries

Dick Fries, 70, of Creston died Saturday, April 2, 2016, at Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston.

Celebration of life services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 6, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 107 W. Howard St., in Creston. The Rev. Ken Halbur will officiate. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, west of Creston, with flag presentation by Theodore J. Martens, V.F.W. Post No. 1797. Open visitation will be from 2 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, with family present from 5 to 7:30 p.m. and Rosary at 7 p.m. at Powers Funeral Home, junction of highways 34 and 25, in Creston. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Holy Spirit Catholic Church or for the scholarship fund at The Learning Center of Southwest Iowa. Online condolences may be left at www.powersfh.com.

Richard Edward Fries, son of Howard E. Fries and Margaret H. (Tatro) Fries, was born Oct. 24, 1945, in Emmetsburg. He graduated from Cylinder High School in 1963. He completed training as a lab and X-ray technician at Professional Business School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, graduating in 1965. Dick served in the United States Navy from 1965 to 1971 as a hospital corpsman. After his discharge, Dick worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative for Abbott Laboratories in Montana. He returned to Emmetsburg and started working at Snap-On Tools in industrial engineering at Algona and completed his Associates of Arts degree at Iowa Lakes Community College in May 1979.

On July 10, 1976, Dick married Karen A. Riedl in Emmetsburg. They settled in Emmetsburg where Dick continued to work for Snap-on Tools until 1979. Moving to Lake Mills, Dick worked as an industrial engineer for Fleetguard, later working as their human resource manager. Dick continued to work on his Bachelor of Arts degree at Mason City center for Buena Vista and graduated in May 1990. In 2000, Dick moved to Creston and began his career with Bunn-O-Matic Corporation as their human resource manager. He retired in 2012.

Dick was a member of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Creston and Society of Human Resource Managers. He had also served on the Southern Prairie YMCA board and more recently, the Learning Center of Southwest Iowa board. While in Lake Mills, he served on the board of education and as treasurer for St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.

Dick is survived by his wife Karen Fries of Creston; daughter Michelle Krummel of Iowa City; sons, Shannon Fries of Murdock, Nebraska, Michael (Catherine) Fries of Grayslake, Illinois, and Christopher (Tara) Fries of Vacaville, California; grandchildren, Sean and Emily Krummel, Kyan, Aubrey and Koen Fries and Sondra Fries; sister-in-law Joan (Rick) Heston of Dubuque; brothers-in-law, Don (Diane) Riedl of Sherrill, Jim (Cindy) Riedl and John Riedl, both of Dubuque, and Tom (Donna) Riedl of Omaha, Nebraska.

Dick was preceded in death by his parents; father- and mother-in-law, Ralph and Lucille Riedl and sister-in-law Laura Riedl.