Blanche Rasmussen

Blanche Ann Rasmussen age 91 of Algona, IA, formerly of Wesley, IA, died Sunday, December 27, 2020 in Algona. Private family services will be held. Blanche has previously requested no flowers or plants for remembrances and money memorials be sent to the American Cancer Society. Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory is in charge of arrangements. Blanche Ann, the daughter of John and Mary (Formanek) Nedved was born May 7, 1929 on a Formanek farm near Duncan, Iowa. Blanche grew up in Duncan where she attended country school. She started school speaking only Czech. When she was in grade school she moved to Garner with her family and graduated from Garner High School in 1947. She married the love of her life, Forrest (Pat) Rasmussen on November 4, 1947 at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Garner, Iowa. To this union they had eight children – Donald, Dwight, Debra, Franklin, Paul, Samuel, John and Ann. Together they made their home in the Wesley area where they operated a dairy/grain farm. On the farm they had a large orchard and every year Blanche planted a huge garden. She was very busy all summer harvesting and preserving her crops which she used to feed the family through the year. She was a great cook and included a lot of the Rasmussen and Nedved food traditions in the foods she prepared. Blanche, Forrest and their family were members of the Wesley St. Joseph's Catholic Church. Blanche was a member of the C.D. of A. and Legion Auxiliary. After their children were raised she started delivering motor homes with Forrest. Blanche shared stories about some of her stressful adventures when doing this driving and says "At least I never had an accident!" Probably the most interesting experience happened on one of their trips to Florida. She always let Forrest lead. On this trip he disappeared from her site and she was unable to find him. She said "When I couldn't find him I decided I was going to keep on driving and find a place in Florida to live." He did finally show up in her rear view mirror and life was back to normal. After Forrest's death in 2015 Blanche lived in her home in Wesley. She entered Algona Manor Care Center in 2019 where she received a lot of love and her needed care. She loved her family and really appreciated when her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren visited. Blanche is survived by six of her children and childrens' families: Donald (Eulinda) of Britt, Dwight (Ruth) of Wesley, Deb (Mike Studer) of Wesley, Frank's children of Missouri, Linda – wife of Paul of Corwith, Sam (Theresa) of New Hampton, John (Dawn) of Wesley and Ann (Alan Leadley) of Eagle Grove and 27 grandchildren and 60 great grandchildren. She is survived by siblings Marie Schoenwetter, Millie Smidt and Gene Nedved and preceded in death by her husband, children Frank and Paul, grandchild Andrew and great grandchild Cael, and sisters Regina and Agnes.