Glen Norman Lindahl, 95, of Dubuque, passed away on October 29, 2014 at Manor Care, Dubuque. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Monday, November 3, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 1755 Delhi Street where visitation will be Held Monday from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. Burial will be in Linwood Cemetery. The Egelhof, Siegert & Casper Westview Funeral Home and Crematory is in charge of arrangemetns.

Glen was born June 11, 1919 in Roseau, Minnesota, to William and Emma Lindahl. He was the second of six children. He graduated from Newfolden High School, Newfolden, Minnesota in 1937.

After working in a variety of jobs after high school, including as a sheet metal worker in an aircraft manufacturing plant in Burbank, California, he began his service in the United States Army Air Force on April 6, 1942. His military occupational specialty was aerial gunner. He flew a number of missions on B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators in the Central Pacific, Northern Solomons from 1942 to 1944. He was awarded the Air Metal with Three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster for his service. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

Following his honorable discharge in 1945, he attended the University of Chicago and received a B.A. degree in 1947.


Glen married the love of his life, Ruby E. Hanson, on May 29, 1949 in Middle River, Minnesota and together they raised four children. Ruby was his constant companion for 65 years until she preceded him in death on July 23, 2014.

The family lived in Danville and Waukegan, Illinois before moving to Dubuque in 1961. Glen worked as a claims adjuster for various finance companies, including Interstate Finance in Dubuque. He also had his own claims adjusting business in Dubuque. Prior to his retirement, he worked for Kopper-Powers Ford and Mike Finnin Ford. He once remarked that although he had spent most of his life working in, on, and around cars, he really didn’t care much for them.

Glen’s true passion was music. He came from a very musical family. His father was a band director, his brother, Earl, was a music educator, and his other siblings were also very talented. He played in a number of bands over the years. He was an excellent piano player who could play just about anything “by ear” and could also play any brass instrument. Shortly before his death, he acquired a trumpet and a prized copy of the classic “Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet” and was committed to practicing at least one hour every day. His plan was to give trumpet lessons to other residents of Manor Care.

Glen was always involved in some interesting “project.” One of his recent projects involved converting dozens of Italian sonnets to piano music. He also composed a suite of orchestra music around Dubuque themes.

Glen was also a voracious reader, often with two or three books on various totally unrelated subjects open at the same time. He had an extremely wide range of reading interests, which included, among other things, everything ever written by or about Winston Churchill, or the Second World War. When he was no longer able to read because of vision issues, he continued his various interests with a steady stream of audio-tapes.

Glen and Ruby loved regularly visiting friends and family in northern Minnesota and when they were no longer able to travel, they enjoyed entertaining anyone who happened to stop for a visit at their home in Dubuque. They also loved to dance and were regular attendees at the dances at the Dubuque County Fair Grounds.

Glen is survived by his son Barry (Rhea) of Dubuque and their son, Christopher; daughters Danelle Eldeen of Marion, Iowa and her children Graeme (Chelsea) Eldeen and Nielie (Jeff) Schaeffer; Cara (Greg) Brandt of Manchester, Iowa and their daughter Courtney (Nathan) Freeze; and Norma E. Lindahl of Boston, Massachusetts; and by great-grandchildren Sydney, Seneca, Saige and Skylar Freeze and Kadie, Madison, and Lucas Schaeffer. Also surviving Glen are a sister, Aldyne (Richard) Salmi of Daphne, Alabama, a brother Luverne Lindahl of Thief River, Minnesota and a niece, Roberta (Jim) Glogovsky of Mt. Dora, Florida.

Glen is preceded in death by his wife, his parents, his brother Earl, and his sisters Vivian and Wanda; 2 brothers-in-law Harold Graham and Edwin Leskinen and 3 sisters-in-law Iva Jean (Luverne) Lindahl, Helen (Earl) Lindahl, and Beverly Hanson Leskinen; and nephews Gregory (Earl) Lindahl, and Mark and John (Luverne) Lindahl.

In lieu of flowers donations may be given to Hospice of Dubuque and the Iowa Library for the Blind.

The family would like to thank Hospice of Dubuque and the staff at Manor Care for their care of Glen.