Senator H. Kenneth Nurse View All Years

H. Kenneth Nurse

H. Kenneth Nurse was born on December 13, 1918, in Dunlap, Iowa, to Howard and Greta Green Nurse. He passed away on August 8, 2008, at the age of 89. He is survived by his wife, Elaine; a son Dennis and his wife Denise of Hartley; a daughter Linda Peters of Mitchell, South Dakota; two step-daughters, Sharon Michailidis and her husband, Bill, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Pam Mears and her husband, Grant, of Sioux City, Iowa; five grandchildren; seven step-grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; five step-great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Doris Kella and her husband, Melvin, of Sidney, Nebraska, and Margaret Plotz of Orange City, Iowa.

Nurse graduated from Dunlap High School. From 1939 to 1941, he worked for an aircraft company in New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Nebraska. He returned to Iowa and was united in marriage to Della Wadsworth in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1942. He then farmed near Dunlap for a period of time before enrolling in college. He attended Morningside College and Iowa State University. He graduated from Iowa State University in 1947 with a degree in vocational education.

From 1947 until 1977, Nurse taught vocational agriculture at the Hartley High School and was a self-employed contractor. In addition, he taught veterans-on-farm training in O’Brien County. Ken married Elaine Blake in 1966 at Hartley, where they lived until moving to Spencer in 1977. During his years in Hartley, he ran for the Iowa Senate and was elected in November 1964 to represent Dickinson, O’Brien, and Osceola counties.

Nurse was a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Spencer. He was the administrator of the Moose Lodge in Spencer, secretary for the “Lewis and Clark” Moose Legion, and legislation relations chair for Iowa and eastern Nebraska. He was a member of the Masons, the Shriners, and the Kiwanis organizations.

Nurse was an O’Brien County Democrat. He served one term in the Iowa Senate from 1965–1968 during the 61st and 62nd General Assemblies.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE EIGHTY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF IOWA: That in the passing of the Honorable H. Kenneth Nurse, the State has lost an honored citizen and faithful and useful public servant, and that the Senate by this resolution expresses its appreciation of his service to the State and tenders its sympathy and kindest regards to the members of his family.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That a copy of this resolution be spread upon the Journal of the Senate and that the Secretary of the Senate be instructed to forward an enrolled copy to the family of the deceased.

DAVID JOHNSON

JOHN P. KIBBIE

STEVE WARNSTADT

Committee