Obituary of Deane Skogman

Deane Thoresen Skogman passed away on October 20, 2013, at The Commons at GracePointe Crossing at the age of 89. Deane was born in Mandan, North Dakota on May 18, 1924 to Godfrey I. and Caroline J. Skogman. In the fall of 1925, they moved to his grandparents' farm in Farmersburg, Iowa. He loved playing baseball and basketball and showing and judging dairy cattle, winning champion showmanship at the dairy 4-H show in the Dairy Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa, and participating in a county judging that won the state contest at the Iowa State Fair that sent the team to the National Contest at Treasure Island, San Francisco. He graduated from high school in 1941 and then attended Elkader Jr. College for a year, and Iowa State College fall and winter quarters in 1942-43. He joined the Army in December of 1943. He participated in the liberation of France, receiving shrapnel wounds in Normandy August 1944. Deane sustained frozen feet (trench foot) in the Battle of the Bulge. He was flown to London for a month's recuperation and then was on limited assignment in Germany. He earned a number of medals, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. He was discharged February 1946. He attended Luther College 1946-1947. In the fall of 1947, he transferred to Iowa State College. He married Jane Wainscott in June 1948 in Belvidere, Illinois. He graduated from Iowa State College in 1949 with a degree in Dairy Husbandry. In 1949 they moved to Minnesota, where he taught Veterans On The Farm Training Program. They moved to Lake Haven Farm east of Cambridge in 1951, where he farmed with his father, raising dairy cattle and hogs. In 1953, he became the southwest fieldman for the Holstein-Friesian Association and moved to Wichita, Kansas. In 1957, the family returned to Lake Haven Farm. Deane was very proud of the ancestral "Century" farmstead. He was always trying to improve his dairy herd of registered Holsteins, and to use the best farming practices, building new barns and erecting silos. He was the first in the area to use irrigation. He retired in 1996, selling the last of the livestock and turning the running of the farm to Scott. He spent his retirement years reading, watching sports on TV, and mowing lawn. He is survived by his five children: Mark Skogman (Linda) of McAlester, OK; Scott Skogman (Betsy) of Cambridge, MN; Ted Skogman of New Brighton; MN, Deena Skogman of Mora, MN; and Marta Benton (Joe) of Hinckley, MN; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his only sibling, Ellen Otterbeck.