Elwin H. (Al) Creese, 88, passed away Monday, March 2, 2020. Al started life on a farm near the little Iowa town of Charter Oak, where working on the farm were some of his fondest memories. His three brothers all chose farming as their life’s work. Al’s father told him he wouldn’t be a successful farmer because he couldn’t stay in one place long enough to plant a field of corn. Knowing that his father was probably right, Al worked in a bank for 15 months and then joined the Air Force in Dec. 1950. Promised an early release if he would attend college, he enrolled at the University of Iowa to fulfil his ambition of becoming a CPA. There he had the good fortune to meet the “prettiest, smartest, nicest girl in Iowa.” Bravely, Al asked that girl to marry him. June and Al married August 28, 1955. She graduated in 1956 and “put hubby through” his last year at Iowa by teaching school. Al received a degree in Accounting. Their son was born February 1957. The delivery was very difficult but both June and baby Greg survived.
In 1957, the couple and their baby moved to West Des Moines. Al joined the staff at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., a CPA firm. June taught in the Des Moines School District. Life was great for the young family. It became even better when they adopted a little girl, Ann, who completed the family. The next step in Al’s professional career was First Deputy State Auditor under Lorne Worthington, a Democrat. Al, a lifelong Republican, remembers that time as the most interesting part of his career. After Lorne was defeated, Al was urged by his friend Bob McNaughton to join Ernst & Ernst, CPAs. He stayed with that company from 1967-1973. Business success brought financial rewards to the family. Another job opportunity took the family to St. Louis where Al joined the Roosevelt Federal Savings & Loan with the assurance that it would go public. The company did not honor its promise.
Al received an offer to join the Statesman Group Insurance Co. in Des Moines as CFO. June was delighted to return to Des Moines. Unfortunately, the new CEO wanted to do some business procedures that Al felt were not proper. Unwilling to abandon his business ethics, Al resigned. In 1983, Al established his own CPA firm. He and June now lived on 37th Street, south of Grand Avenue, in Des Moines. He was only 52 years old, not ready to retire. Robb Kelley, CEO of Employers Mutual Companies, offered him the job of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He stayed with EMC until his retirement in 1996. Although he retired in 1996, he stayed on the Board of Directors until 2004.
In 1993, Al was inducted as Chairman of Financial Executive Institute (FEI), an organization with more than 14,000 members in the U.S. and Canada. June was designated as the First Lady of FEI. FEI started in 1931, and only one other Chairman was from the Midwest. In 1994, he was selected as The Outstanding CPA in Industry by his peers in the Iowa Society of CPAs. He and June traveled extensively and now had homes in Des Moines, Rio Verde, AZ, and Lake Panorama, Iowa. Al’s favorite pastimes were playing golf and Des Moines Golf & Country Club, flying a plane named Juliet, and fishing on the pontoon boat. He enjoyed a good tennis match and a hand of rummy or Euchre.
Al’s proudest career moments include delivering messages to the Oval office to President Truman, having President Carter stay at his house, working in the Capital Building while working as an Auditor for the state of Iowa, and being a judge at the Olympics.
Al’s life is a saga of a small town Iowa farm boy who never forgot his core values of honesty, love of family, and appreciation for hard work. He credits his success to his parents, his natural energy, but especially to the love of his life, June. Sadly, June died before they could move into Deerfield. Al nearly died of loneliness in his condo but at Deerfield he found the friends and activities needed. “I got my life back. The best thing I did was move into Deerfield”. Even today, he doesn’t stay still long enough to plant a field of corn.
