ROCHESTER -- The funeral for Dean L. Emerson will be held in Montgomery, Ala., next week. Burial will be in Eastwood Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Montgomery.
Mr. Emerson, 78, of Rochester and formerly of rural Riceville, Iowa, died Thursday (Oct. 28, 2004) at his home after being ill with prostate cancer.
Born April 26, 1926, in Little Cedar, Iowa, he graduated from Little Cedar High School in 1943. He was active in high school sports and later played on the Little Cedar baseball team. He received an offer to play with the St. Louis Cardinals, but was drafted and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
Mr. Emerson worked as a farmer and also held jobs in manufacturing, sales and construction over many years. He was retired.
He married Melissa Potts at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, Iowa, in 1982. They later divorced but remained friends.
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Mr. Emerson enjoyed traveling, fishing, gardening, sports and reading.
Survivors include a sister, Marlene Goodale of Little Cedar; his ex-wife, of Rochester, a nurse, who was his primary caregiver during his illness. He was preceded in death by an infant daughter and a brother.
Friends may call from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Mahn Family Funeral Home-Rochester Chapel.
The family suggests memorials to the American Cancer Society for prostate cancer research.
