George Dresselhuis was an attorney for just short of 70 years. He spent 68 of those years practicing law in Odebolt, and was also Odebolt's City Attorney for many years. He served several generations of many families in the community. George intended never to retire from the work he loved. In fact, he continued working until late 2003, when failing health forced him to stop going to his office at the age of 93.
George was an Odebolt "institution", and his passing on May 8, 2004 will be felt for a long time to come. As Mayor Ronald J. Rex stated in The Chronicle on May 13, 2004, "The City was deeply saddened last week after the loss of George Dresselhuis. We mourn his passing, however we celebrate his life. He shall be missed." His was a good life, a life of dedication to his family, his profession and his community.
Below is an article from Odebolt's newspaper, which gives a glimpse into the life of this esteemed man.
- B. Horak
Who's in the News?
(The Chronicle, undated clipping - about 1992)
George W. Dresselhuis
George Dresselhuis moved to Odebolt from Des Moines. He was born and raised in Parkersburg, Iowa, where he attended and graduated from high school. He continued his education by attending Drake Law School, graduating in 1934. The next two years found him working for a law firm in Des Moines.
When George moved to Odebolt [in 1936] the town boasted the following businesses: seven grocery stores, two meat markets, four implement dealers, three active doctors, two dentists, two hardware stores, a Firestone and a Gambles store, a hotel, four auto dealers and garage repair shops. Odebolt was a very active community. In fact George tells that when he first came to Odebolt his office was in the upstairs of the Coy building next to the Iowa Highway Commission's office. The commission was in the process of building Highways 20, 71 and 175 through Sac County, and as a result had headquarters set up here in town with approximately 20 engineers and their families living in our fair community. All this changed of course, when the war started and the engineers were needed elsewhere to support the war effort. The sad part of this is, that all these businesses are now entirely changed and gone; presently Odebolt has one grocery store and no doctors.
"One thing that hasn't changed," said George, "is the quality of people who live in Odebolt. The people that make the school, the churches, the ambulance and town council work, the group working on the library addition and the group working to build a new fire station haven't changed. The faces and names may be different, but these people are just as dedicated about the betterment of our community as any group of people ever was. Because of these dedicated folks, there is a minimum of crime and problems in Odebolt compared to elsewhere in the country. There is a remarkable record of accomplishment achieved by the young people who have come from our town."
"Another comment I would like to leave with your readers is that the quality of people in this community is evidenced by their well kept homes and beautiful yards and lawns, which shows how much pride the people have in their living and community. The very few exceptions appear very blatantly out of place in this town."
George and his wife, Thelma, have two children, Ellen and Gerrit. George and Thelma love to travel and have been all over the world. He also loves to fish and garden in his spare time.
George has been a lawyer for 58 years [in 1992] and says basically the work is the same and that he truly loves to practice law. He says he has no need to do crossword puzzles, as some of the daily tasks are big puzzles waiting to be solved. He has no plans to retire; in fact, he says, "They'll probably have to kick me out!"
"There are a lot of interesting stories about the accomplishments of the people with their roots in Odebolt. I would love to write a book about some of them, but sometimes there just isn't enough time to do everything we would like to do."
Thank you George for being our special guest this week and after our visit, I think it would be great to read the book you could write. Thanks again!
|
"Fifty Years of Progress"; The Odebolt Chronicle, Vol. 51, Number 31, Thursday, August 25, 1938 |
George in his law office, March 2002,
age 91. |
Click the photo to enlarge
The building on the left is where George Dresselhuis
practiced law when he first came to Odebolt.
Also See:
George W.
Dresselhuis Obituary
[Home] [History Index]
