Stanley Bernard Etzen

Stan was born 88 years ago in Iowa to parents Inez and Bernard. He was baptized at birth and confirmed at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in 1944. He was active in churches in Iowa, Illinois and California for many years. He taught Sunday school, led youth retreats and assumed positions of leadership in his churches.

He loved the outdoors his entire life. Stan grew up in a small house on the edge of town with the rolling hills of Iowa farmland beyond. Just a short distance behind the house was Blackhawk creek. Walking the creek bank and crossing a railroad trestle with no foot bridge, only open railroad ties, was a forbidden but delightful shortcut to elementary school.

Stan did well in school, his mother spent hours reading to him his pre-school years, which instilled in him the love of books and learning. Iowa had the third ranked public schools in the nation which prepared him well for college later on.

During his elementary school years Stan spent the entire summer on his grandfather’s farm. There were draft and riding horses, beef cattle, milk cows, pigs and sheep. This created a love of animals that lasted all of his life. Harvest time was particularly exciting. The farmers in the area would all arrive with their teams of horses and wagons. Their job was to bring the sheaves in from the fields to the steam engine powered threshing machine. Then they hauled the grain to the grain elevator for sale. It was great fun to play in the straw stacks and ride on the wagons.

Friday nights all the farmers went to the town of Easton, population 450. There was usually a baseball game or a really bad band concert followed by a silent movie after dark. We made the rounds of the grocery, dry goods, clothing store (all in one) the drug store with soda fountain (no money for ice cream), the hardware store and the Plymouth dealer to look at the one shiny new car for sale. Grandpa and I would go to the saloon (he didn’t drink) for ice cold Orange Crushes. There was no electricity on the farm so no refrigeration.

When Stan was eight his grandfather brought home a Shetland pony. His grandfather was concerned that Stan was absolutely fearless around horses. He said “Stanley, if you learn to ride this mean little S.O.B. I’ll never worry about you again. The first month was hell. Stan was continually bucked off, kicked, bitten and run away with, but finally he prevailed. After that the pony, named Dandy, followed Stan everywhere he went. That bonding was one of the happiest memories of his childhood.

Stan got his early education in the Iowa public schools. He always liked school and got good grades. Summers were spent on his grandfather’s farm and as he got older, playing baseball. During the Winter he liked to spend Saturdays in the rolling farmland and wooded hills next to the family home. He had crude cross country skis and he and his friends would find hills to ski down. When he was twelve he received his first gun. It had a .22 rifle barrel on the top for shooting squirrels and a .410 barrel on the bottom for shooting rabbits. His love of hunting began, culminating with a trophy room full of big game animals, fish and birds. Stan also loved basketball. His high school won an Iowa State Championship– with Stan holding down the bench.

He graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in mechanical engineering and immediately went into Office Candidate School in the U.S. Navy avoiding being drafted during the Korean War. He served three years as a junior officer in the Civil Engineer Corps. Stan was stationed on the military base in San Juan, Puerto Rico for two years as Assistant Pacific Works Officer.

Stan married Claire Holst in 1952 and they had two sons, David and Mark. Mark died of cancer in 2007, which was very difficult. Stan has three granddaughters from Marks’s marriage. David has continued to be supportive of Stan in his later life.

After being discharged from the Navy, Stan worked at R.R. Donnelley in Chicago and went to night school to earn an MBA at the University of Chicago in 1959. He moved the family to Los Angeles in 1968 to take a position as marketing manager at Times Mirror Press, a division of the Times Mirror Corporation. In 1974 Stan purchased Day Printing Corporation which later became Dayco Graphics. Both Dave and Mark joined the company and Stan was blessed with being able to see his sons on a daily basis.

In later life Stan lived in Apple Valley with Kathleen Claspell. Together they went on cruises and traveled to Europe.

Stan became a member of Spring Valley Lake Country Club in 1991 where he actively participated in golf and tennis. He played tennis and snow skied until he was 74 and was still playing golf into his late 70’s where he scored a hole-in-one during a senior tournament. He served a term on the board of governors at Spring Valley Lake. Stan enjoyed shooting pool into his 80’s after his arthritis prevented him from playing golf. When pool became too difficult he started playing the harmonica. At the age of 88 he gave a harmonica recital with the help of his friends at Season’s Hospice.