Richard Maine

    Richard J. “Dick” Maine, 83, died peacefully with family members at his side on Wednesday, July 27, at New Aldaya Lifescapes in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Cause of death was complications from a July 4 stroke.

    Born March 9, 1928, Dick grew up in Des Moines, Iowa but spent many summer days at the Clear Lake cottage his grandfather built in Methodist Camp (now Bell Harbor) in 1935. Horsing around in the water with his big brother, Tom—including swimming across the 1.3-mile-wide lake while his mother, Bernice, rowed along side—fostered Dick’s love for the lake and his success as a high school and college swimming and diving champion.
    He graduated from Roosevelt High School Des Moines in 1946. He won state swimming championships in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1943 and the 100-yard backstroke in 1944 and 1945. He was the state diving champion in 1944 and 1945. At the University of Iowa, at the age of 18, he earned All-American honors in 1946 as the 150-yard backstroke Big Ten champion. (About that time, servicemen who had been training in the Pacific came home from the war, and the competition intensified.) He graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1951.
    Dick married Mary June Maher in 1951. A veteran of the Korean War, Dick and his family settled in West Des Moines in 1955 and he went to work for Brooks Borg Architecture and Engineering. In 1963 the family moved to Waterloo, Iowa where Dick worked as plant manager for the C.W. Shirey Company. In 1970 he took a position as Midwest regional sales rep for a Florida-based prestressed concrete supply company, a position he held until his first retirement in 1990.
    In 1991 Dick married Carol Jean Frost of Cedar Falls. He worked for Friendship Village in Waterloo for two years before his second retirement in 1993.
    Retirement agreed with Dick. He kept busy hanging with his tennis pals at the Blackhawk Tennis Club and his golf pals at Irv Warren Memorial Golf Course, both in Waterloo, and following his beloved Hawkeyes on the football field and basketball court. He enjoyed playing blackjack around Iowa and on occasional trips to Las Vegas. He took trips to New York and Colorado to visit his children and grandchildren, and he celebrated his 75th birthday with a blackjack and golf trip to Las Vegas and Pebble Beach. Other adventures included playing the famous No. 2 course at Pinehurst, N.C., and a bonefishing trip to the Florida Keys.
    Dick made numerous trips back to Clear Lake, where he spent many weekends and holidays with his children golfing and fishing in the summer, watching bowl games in winter, and NCAA basketball tournament games in the spring. He especially liked fishing off the dock because he could enjoy two of his favorite pursuits—catching a big catfish (some of the time) and taking a nap (most of the time).
    He is survived by his wife, Carol; sons, Steven of Clear Lake and Michael (Ann) of Des Moines; daughters, Missy (Robert Ford) of Des Moines and Molly (Bob Gnaegy) of Centennial, Colo.; his former wife, June Opheim of West Des Moines; granddaughters, Jenny DeLorbe of Lexington, Ky., and Katie DeLorbe of Centennial, Colo.; older brother, Thomas (Shirley) of Carbondale, Ill.; twin sister, Dorothy “Dot” (John Cachiaras) of Rochester, Minn.; step-daughters, Sandra (Hanselmann) of Bristol, Va., Sharon (Rubino) of Oelwein, Iowa, Rhonda (Roberts) of Jesup, Iowa and Julie Frost of Oelwein; and eight nieces and nephews.
    He was preceded in death by his parents, Ralph and Bernice Maine.
    The family held a private memorial service on July 30 on the site of the original Maine cottage in Clear Lake.