Lauren Nissen

    Lauren William “Bill” Nissen, 85, of 1400 North Shore Drive, Clear Lake, died Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011 at the Mercy West Campus Skilled Nursing Unit in Mason City, Iowa.  A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Friday, Nov. 11, at the Fertile Church of Christ, 3493 Eagle Avenue, Fertile, Iowa with Pastor Dennis Ganz officiating.  Inurnment will

be held at Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City. Family will greet friends from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Ward-Van Slyke Funeral Home, 101 North 4th Street, Clear Lake on Thursday, Nov. 10. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of North Iowa.
    Bill was born in rural Fertile on Sept. 2, 1926 to Henry and Ruby (Carr) Nissen.  He attended school at Hanlontown, Iowa and graduated from Fertile High School in 1944.  Bill enlisted in the Army Air Corps in August of 1944 and was honorably discharged in October of 1946.  In 1962 he married Joan Fuller and to this union, two daughters were born, Cynthia and Jennifer.  Joan passed away in 1988.
    He spent seven years farming with his family and later spent most of his life working in the seed fertilizer and agriculture commercial industry.  In 1975, at the request of friends, Bill began the Nissen Crop Advisory Service, advising individual farmers about crop production programs.  In 1985 Bill was elected to the Crop Professionals Hall of Fame by his peers in agriculture all over the United States.
    After his retirement in 1989 he kept his hands in the dirt growing a green lawn and beautiful flowers, not only for his own enjoyment, but for others as well. 
    Bill is survived by his daughters, Cindy Nissen and her fiancé, Bob Hochstein, Machesney Park, Ill.,  and Jennifer Sillman, Ames, Iowa; four granddaughters, Lauren, Delaney, Emma and Julia Sillman, Ames.
    Bill was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Joan; son-in-law, Chris Sillman; four sisters, Dorothy Aspland, Nelda Behl, Ruth E. Ouverson, and Margaret Matheson.