Robert Richard Thran, 94

Robert Richard Thran, age 94 of Nashua, died Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, at Waverly Health Center in Waverly.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, April 12, 2024, at St. John Lutheran Church, Nashua with the Rev. Todd Burrichter presiding.

Military honors will take place outside the church following the service. Private family interment will take place at a later date.

Friends may greet the family 9:30 to 11 a.m. prior to the service at the church on Friday, April 12, 2024, at the church.

A memorial marker will be placed in St. Paul’s Cemetery at Readlyn with scattering of cremated remains among Bob’s favorite places commemorating life in Readlyn and Bremer County.

Memorials may be directed to St John Lutheran Church, Nashua, and The Readlyn Historical Society.

Hugeback-Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory/Olson Chapel in Nashua have been entrusted with Bob’s arrangements.

Bob was born in Readlyn on Sept. 20, 1929, the son of Oscar and Loueen Diekmann Thran.

He attended St. Paul’s Lutheran Parochial School and graduated from Readlyn High School in 1947. He attended Iowa State Teachers College in 1947 and 1948, and the University of Iowa from 1948 to 1951.

Bob was drafted into the U.S. Army Sept., 10, 1951, and served with the Forty-Fifth Infantry Division in Korea during the Korean War. He was discharged in May of 1953.

Bob married Gerda Franken of Allison on May 23,1954. They were divorced in 1986 but remained friends. He worked for Philip Morris, Lutheran Mutual, and Rath Packing Company.

Bob attended Wartburg College from 1958 to 1959, graduating in May 1959 with a degree in education. He taught German and later became a guidance counselor at Williamsburg High School.

He was Personnel director at Amana Refrigeration 1965–69 and earned a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Montana 1971.

Bob returned to counseling at Valley of Elgin and Tri-County of Thornburg, before serving as guidance counselor at Nashua High School from 1973 until his retirement in 1991.

Bob delivered Winnebago motorhomes throughout North America from 1995 to 2016. In later years, Bob wrote about the history of Readlyn for the Readlyn Chronicle.

Bob enjoyed traveling to Germany to visit friends and relatives, and speaking to German students in English classes about life in America ans also enjoying visiting in German with older Germans, especially those who survived World War II.

Bob was an enthusiastic researcher of the history of Readlyn and was sometimes referred to as “The Readlyn Historian.”

As a University of Iowa alumnus, Bob was a dedicated Iowa Hawkeye fan for pver 80 years, having seen Nile Kinnick play in 1938 when Bob was 9 years old.

Robert Thran is survived by a son, Eric, of Des Moines; a son, Tony, of Nashua; one granddaughter, Jessica Pfitzer,  of Marquette, Michigan; two great-grandchildren, Julia and Josiah; and three nephews, Mark, David and Mike and Jennifer Tomson, Fairfield, California.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Richard; a sister, Carol; and a nephew, Jon Tomson.

“A life well-lived
… A job well-done ...”