We Remember…

Paul R. Espinosa

Deceased May 10, 2010

Echo 69/70

Paul Richard “Sonny” Espinosa III, age 64, of 10524 Clark Street, Clive, Iowa, died Monday, May 10, 2010 at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, of cancer after being diagnosed April 1, 2010.  Funeral services will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, May 15, 2010 at Trinity Lutheran Church, 213 N. Pennsylvania Avenue, Mason City, with Rev. Jim Magelssen officiating.  Visitation will be one hour prior to the church service.  Interment will be held in Memorial Park Cemetery.  Full Military Rites will be conducted by the Mason City Veterans Memorial Association.  Memorials may be directed to Trinity Lutheran Church or the Mason City Education Foundation. Paul was born January 21, 1946 in Mason City to Paul “Blackie” and Mavis (Holt) Espinosa.  He graduated from Mason City High School in 1964 and from Luther College, Decorah, in 1968 and played basketball for Kent Finanger.

He served in Vietnam in 1969 with the rank of Sergeant E-5 and was a member of the 9th Infantry Division. In his youth he was confirmed by Rev. Lavern R. Hanson at Trinity Lutheran Church.  He was a member of Boy Scout Troop 12 and enjoyed camping at old Camp Roosevelt at Clear Lake and the new camp at Marble Rock.  He also enjoyed camping at Riverside Bible Camp.  He played cornet and alto horn in the All City Band for Stan Davis.  He played first base for Elmer Starr’s baseball team.  He played basketball for the undefeated Mohawk basketball team rated No. 1 in the state for Herb Thompson.

He was united in marriage to Jo Ann Otterness in June of 1968. He played a lot of softball and managed the Clear Lake Buttertop softball team for Hans Sell.  He played first base on a slow pitch softball team with his father as pitcher, and they competed in the National Tournament in St. Louis, Missouri.  He was inducted into the Softball Hall of Fame.  Following his discharge from the service, he was employed in the meat industry at various locations and was Plant Manager of Pineridge Farms in Des Moines at the time of his death.  His employees are from 10 countries, and he has taken them under his wing helping them with legal matters, taxes, monetarily and with immigration issues, and they called him Papa. He was united in marriage to Mary Binder in December of 1996.  He is survived by his wife:  Mary Espinosa of Clive; his parents:  Paul and Mavis Espinosa of Mason City; his son:  Nathan (Amber) of Lino Lakes, Minnesota; daughter:  Jennifer (John) Whyte of Omaha, Nebraska;  stepdaughters:  Heather (Kent) Weiber of La Pine, Oregon, Ashley (Jesse) Wilson of South Dakota, Catilin Turgeon of Des Moines; 7 grandchildren:  Alexis and Alison Whyte of Omaha, Carver, Zachary, and Andrew Espinosa of Minnesota, and Hannah and Sam Weiber of Oregon;  3 sisters:  Sherry (Gordon) Rundquist of Iowa City, Iowa, Pamela (Loyd) McFarland of Fresno, California and Ann Espinosa of Ames, Iowa;  1 brother:  Peter (Kari) Espinosa of Edina, Minnesota.  He is also survived by 1 niece, 3 nephews, 3 great nieces and 1 great nephew.  He was preceded in death by his sister:  Debbie in 1970, his nephew:  Matthew in 2010 and grandparents, aunts, and uncles.  He hadn’t lived in Mason City for many years, but he was always a great supporter of it and loved the people living here.  He still read the Globe Gazette everyday online.  He served as Master of Ceremonies at his 45th Class Reunion in 2009.  He spent his life doing acts of kindness for his family, his friends and his employees.  His last act of kindness was that he and Mary took care of his father for the past 9 months who has had dementia for the past 3 years. 

Memorials may be directed to Trinity Lutheran Church or the Mason City Education Foundation.

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, May 15, 2010 at Trinity Lutheran Church.

Interment will be held in Memorial Park Cemetery