Roger Lee Petty, age 64, of Coon Rapids, IA, passed away on Sunday, December 19, 2021 at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll.
Funeral service will be held at 10:30 A.M. on Monday, December 27, 2021 at Coon Rapids United Methodist Church with Pastor Joyce Webb officiating. Casket bearers will be Jared Smouse, Sid Petty, Timothy Flug, Anthony Flug, Ethan Flug, Caleb Flug, Brian Petty, and B.J. Bowman. Honorary casket bearers will be his siblings and friends: Tim Pedersen, Glen Knight, Steve McCurdy, Dick Tigges, and Gary Troutman. Burial will be at Union Township Cemetery near Coon Rapids.
Visitation will be held at Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home in Coon Rapids from 5 – 7 P.M. on Sunday, December 26. The casket will be moved to the church at 9:30 A.M. on Monday where visitation will resume until the time of service.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home in Coon Rapids and online condolences may be left for the family at www.dahnandwoodhouse.com
Roger, son of Leo and Ruby (Davis) Petty, was born on Christmas Day, 1956 in Red Oak, Iowa. He grew up in Audubon, Iowa. During his teenage years he enjoyed working at Marv’s grocery store in Audubon and told the stories for the rest of his life. As an adult Roger worked for Hemicksons Construction in Atlantic and later at Garst & Thomas Seed Corn Company. After his health deteriorated, he worked part-time at the lumber yard, Country Store, and Coon Bowl. Most recently you could find him at grilling on Fridays at Frohlich’s Super Valu. He died just short of his 65th birthday, after a 30-year struggle with kidney disease that required a kidney transplant in 2017 and 7 combined years of dialysis.
He married Jaxine Bowman on November 22, 1975, at the First United Methodist Church in Coon Rapids. After they were married, Roger quickly became a country-boy by helping his father-in-law Jack on the farm. They stayed in Coon Rapids all their married life, raising three girls: Mandy, Jessica and Ashley. Roger was baptized at the Faith Lutheran Church in Griswold, Iowa in 1957. He was a member of Coon Rapids First United Methodist Church for 43 years where he enjoyed helping with church meals and the food pantry.
Roger was an excellent free-hand artist and often drew cartoons for friends and helped Jaxine, the girls, and his grandchildren with craft projects. He spent many hours in his garage creating designs and building custom toy barns, dollhouses, and cradles. He built the girls many playhouses over the years, culminating in the creation of the 3-level fort for the grandkids at the Bowman farm. After the girls moved out, his favorite pastime was to drive around to “check on things” at their houses while listening to 70s music. He enjoyed summers sitting around picnic tables he built, winters playing cards, and any-time road trips where he could reminisce about the cars, landmarks, and antics of his youth. Every new grandchild was another opportunity to tell the stories for the first time. The grandchildren also gave him excuses to have a bonfire at the farm and give them rides through the pasture, grove, and even ditches in his pickup or lawnmower wagon.
Roger is survived by his wife Jaxine, daughters Mandy Smouse (Josh), Jessica Hartl (Chris), and Ashley Kesselring (Steve), all of Coon Rapids; grandchildren: Lauren, Jared, Parker, and Addison Smouse, Kylee Hartl, Domynyck and Landon Petty, Skylar, Rydell, and Gabriel Kesselring and one grandchild due in March; three brothers, Kevin (Cherie) Petty, Dell Petty (Leslie Forster) and Sid (Cherie) Petty; and three sisters, Luann (Gary) Olsen, Lori (Ivan) Cooper and Elsie (Richard) Flug; many nieces and nephews, other relatives and countless friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his father and mother-in-law Jack and Velma Bowman; two brothers, Ronald and Ralph Petty; sister Donna Guehrn; sister-in-law Patty Petty; brother-in-law Tony Bowman; and nephew Brent Petty.