Bruce Stavenhagen, 74, of Ottawa, died early Monday morning, March 17, 2014 at OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 21, 2014 at Trinity Lutheran Church with Rev. Garry Briesacher, Pastor, officiating. Burial will be at Oakwood Memorial Park. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at Mueller Funeral Home in Ottawa.
Mr. Stavenhagen was born on January 18, 1940 in Waterloo, IA to Glenn and Alice (Bott) Stavenhagen. He attended schools in Waterloo and Denison, IA and Monmouth, IL. He graduated from Monmouth High School in 1958 and from Monmouth College in 1962, with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He married his high school sweetheart, Betty McConnell, on June 12, 1960 at the First Lutheran Church in Monmouth.
Upon graduating from Monmouth College, he moved to Ottawa where he worked at Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company in several supervisory positions. After retiring from Libbey-Owens-Ford, he began a second career as a teacher/tutor of G.E.D. students and adult literacy for Illinois Valley Community College. He loved to see people get a second chance in education and was very proud of them when they received their G.E.D. diplomas. He called them all “winners” and worked to instill a positive attitude in all of them.
He was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Ottawa where he served on the council, property committee and the mission team. He was passionate about mission work and worked with several organizations doing volunteer work. He was a member of Men in Mission which meets every month at Immanuel Lutheran Church on County Line Road. It consists of men from six Lutheran churches and other denominations as well. He derived a lot of inspiration and fellowship from this organization.
One of his favorite missions was Kogudus Renewal Ministry. He served on many teams at the Illinois retreat center and in several prisons in the state. Two of his more memorable retreats were in Estonia, Europe, the birthplace of the founder of Kogudus, Pastor Olaf Magis.
Betty and he loved to travel, having been in many American states, Mexico, Canada, Europe and South America. They loved to visit with the older population in these lands. They thought they learned more about the history from the people who lived it.
Bruce’s hobbies included amateur photography, wood working, metal working and watching nature in his backyard, with daily visitations of deer, birds, squirrels, ground hogs and his confrontations with ground squirrels, raccoons and opossums.
One of his favorite sayings was “Hey, It could Happen.” He kept this in mind as he said it often as he cheered for the Cubs. He loved the Bears, Blackhawks, Cubs and the Iowa Hawkeyes. He lived with cancer for more time than his doctors thought. He was convinced that he survived so long because God still had work for him to do and his positive mental attitude. Another quote you have heard him say was, “If we can’t have fun doing it, then let’s not do it.”
Bruce is laid to rest in the Garden of Psalms.
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