Willard Canine

Will was born on May 6, 1929, the last of four children born to Clara (Perkins) and Elvin F. Canine. He grew up on the family farm in Norwalk, Iowa. He graduated from Norwalk High School in 1946, the president of his class of 18. He then headed to Drake University in Des Moines to study music and business.

During his freshman year, he met Helen Melaas, a Drake classmate from Des Moines who majored in piano performance. Will claimed that he dated other women at Drake, but took his father’s advice to “call up that girl who plays the piano.” Will often said it was the best advice his father ever gave him. He and Helen were married during their senior year, in 1949. They were married for 71 years until her death in 2020.

After Drake graduation Will worked for Standard Oil. He started as a service-station attendant in Des Moines, but was soon promoted to area manager of motor-oil sales in Glidden, Iowa. The first of their three children, daughter Cathy, was born in 1952 in nearby Carroll. While still living in Glidden, Will took a job with FS (Farm Service), a farm-supply co-op. He and Helen were transferred to Boone, then Cedar Falls, where their second child, son Craig, was born in 1958. Within a year, FS transferred them back to Des Moines, where son Steven was born in 1961. All three kids developed fond memories of many FS-sponsored summer retreats at Vacation Village on Lake Okoboji.

In the late 1970s, Will changed careers, taking a sales job with Iowa Road Builders in Des Moines. Although he was a loyal customer of Ford automobiles (many a trip to Okoboji and the Y-Camp of the Rockies in Estes Park were made in a series of Galaxy 500s), he cut a dashing figure tooling around central Iowa in a big, company-supplied Buick that was (amazingly) equipped with a telephone in the trunk. Subsequently, Will did a brief stint as a banker before starting his own HR recruitment consultancy, the Human Resource Group.

As a long-time member of Windsor Heights Lutheran Church, Will conducted the Senior Choir for almost 20 years (with Helen running the show in the background). He was a life member of Sertoma and served on the boards of the Windsor Heights Foundation, Visiting Nurses Association, and the Des Moines Civic Music Association. He was an avid bicyclist and loved participating in annual “Ed Pugsley Invitational” rides throughout the Midwest and beyond with his biking buddies.

Willard is survived by sons Craig (Myla Sherburne) of Eastsound, WA, and Steve (Kate Breen) of Piedmont, CA; seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Willard was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Wayne and Merwin (who died in infancy), sister Marjorie, and daughter Cathy Riggs.

Visitation will be held from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Friday, August 23, 2024, at Windsor Heights Lutheran Church, 1240 66th Street, Windsor Heights, IA 50324. The funeral service will be held at the church immediately afterwards, at 11:00 a.m. A lunch at the church will follow. Interment will be at McLaren’s Resthaven Cemetery in West Des Moines.

Memorial contributions may be sent to Windsor Height Lutheran Church (at the above address) or Friends of Drake Arts, Drake University, 2505 Carpenter Ave., Des Moines, IA 50311.