Glenn D. Uglum, 67

Glenn D. Uglum age 67 of New Hampton, IA, died Sunday, May 15, 2022, at his home. 

A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, May 20, 2022, at Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory in New Hampton, with Rev. Kevin Frey officiating. Inurnment will take place at New Hampton City Cemetery. 

Friends may greet the family from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Friday, May 20, 2022, at Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory in New Hampton. Online condolences for the Uglum family may be left at hugebackfuneralhome.com

Glenn was born on May 6, 1955, to Glen and Ruby (Newport) Uglum at the old St. Joseph’s Hospital in New Hampton. The youngest of the Uglum’s four children, he grew up in New Hampton before his family moved out in the country. He received his education at New Hampton Community Schools and was a member of New Hampton High’s Class of 1973.

Glenn liked to be called “Ug” in fact, he’d always corrected them when they called him “Glenn.”

After graduation, Ug moved to Hawaii and lived with his brother for a while, and it was while on the islands where he discovered a love for his patented Hawaiian shirts — some more bright than others!

He moved back to the mainland and began working for the Iowa Department of Transportation, first as a surveyor and then as a construction inspector, and he always joked that he “watched other people work for a living.” He loved his job and worked with the DOT for more than 34 years until he retired in 2019.

Ug, though, was first and foremost a family man. He began dating Marlys Tank when he was a senior in high school and she was a freshman, and they were a couple for almost 50 years. They were married on Jan. 7, 2000, and later that year, they welcomed their only child, Marcy.

Marcy grew up with a father who always considered her the apple of his eye. He loved having her in his shop, where he worked on stain glass and his woodworking projects and enjoyed the fishing trips the family took to Okoboji. Father and daughter also had a blast watching their favorite shows — like “Ink Masters,” “Battle Bots” and, of course, any Chicago Bears game — together. He enjoyed helping with numerous birthday and Halloween parties and loved seeing his daughter have a great time with her friends. And Ug rarely, if ever, missed one of Marcy’s sporting events.

Over the years, he amassed a nice collection of Budweiser beer mugs and Chicago Bears’ autographed mini-helmets, and he was always up for a day of fishing — either on the open water in the summer or on the ice in the winter. He also enjoyed his motorcycles and loved giving rides to Marcy on his Spider and teaching her how to drive his Slingshot, which looked more like a car than a bike.

Ug was a member of the First United Methodist Church in New Hampton.

This man known for his bright and wild Hawaiian shirts will be missed by all those who knew him but especially by his wife and daughter, but they are grateful for the memories they made with him. One of the last came this past Saturday when he watched Marcy receive her master’s degree in accounting from the University of Northern Iowa, and to say he was a proud father would be an understatement. 

Ug is survived by his wife, Marlys of New Hampton; his daughter, Marcy Uglum of Cedar Falls; one sister, Paula (Roger) Webb of New Hampton; and his nieces, his nephew, and his cousins.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Glen and Lucy Uglum; a sister, Nancy Uglum; and a brother, Wayne Uglum.