Howard J. Schluter, 92
Howard J. Schluter age 92 of Nashua, Iowa, died Sunday, May 27, 2018, at Waverly Health Center.
Funeral Services will be held 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 1, 2018, at St. John Lutheran Church, Nashua with Rev. Diane Shaw and Rev. Darin Cerwinske officiating.
Interment will be held in Oak Hill Cemetery, Nashua with Nathan Schluter, Nat Sinnwell, Scott Milburn, Mike Hannemann, Dan Perry, Ike Sinnwell and Jeff Brown.
Friends may greet the family 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Thursday, May 31, 2018, at Hugeback Johnson Funeral Home - Olson Chapel in Nashua. Visitation continues an hour prior to the service at the church on Friday. Online condolences for Howard's family may be left at hugebackfuneralhome.com
If hands could speak, what I wouldn’t give to sit and listen to the story of Howard’s hands. Dirty and swollen from years of work, yet the kindness and gentle love still poured out with each ear of corn or milk shake he shared with his closest friends and family.
Howard J. Schluter (Pa)’s story began on July 5th, 1925 on his grandfather’s homestead, son of Emil and Florence (Shallock) Schluter. He attended country school and proudly graduated as salutatorian from Nashua High School. His passion for farming began young as he dug his hands into the land on his father’s farm. Howard became a “Red Tractor Man” as he moved to Nashua when he and his father bought into the International Harvest business. Thanks to this move, he met and fell in love with a young beauty down the street, Jeanette Marie Oberheu. In November of 1948, he stole her hand in marriage, that unbeknownst at that time, would last just shy of 70 years. Howard took his new wife back to the farm East of town where their family began to grow.
In 1959 Howard’s family, now consisting of four children, moved to Orlando, Florida. While there, Howard developed a new interest of building homes that he quickly turned into a career. His hands kept busy and his house building business proved very successful in Florida. He was able to bring this business back to Iowa when his family of seven moved home. He continued work as a general contractor in Nashua where his son-in-law, Ken Haberman, joined him. Through his career, Howard built countless homes, roofed too many barns, and developed “Schluterville,” a housing development on the south edge of town.
Although this career choice took him away from the farm, Howard couldn’t keep his hands out of the soil. When not on his International Harvester, he kept busy in his garden. Large enough to supply produce for all of Schluterville, Pa’s garden was his true love and passion.
When life slowed down, Howard enjoyed curling, square dancing, and traveling across the country with grandkids in the Minnie Winnie. Howard loved God and worked throughout his life for Him. He served as president of the church council in both Iowa and Florida. Pa’s hands also built the Lutheran parsonage located within Schluterville.
Leathered and tired from years of work, it’s now time to lay his hands to rest. Howard almost made 93 years of life and was looking forward to his 70th wedding anniversary this coming November. Jeanette made him promise one last dance with her. Although the dance may not have taken place here on Earth, Jeanette knows he’ll be waiting to hold her hand in Heaven.
Howard was proud of his great family of five along with their spouses. He is survived by Joyce Haberman of Nashua , Gary (Tio) Schluter of Ft. Collins, CO, Kathie Schluter of Charles City, Lynne (Lisa) Schluter of Tijeras, NM, Larry (Patti) Schluter of Farmington, MN, eight grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, Bernard, and a son-in-law, Ken
