No Visitation


At George's request, 
he has been cremated.



~Graveside Service~
Was held 2:00 P.M.
Saturday, May 4, 2024
Oak Hill Cemetery
1594 State Hwy. 48
Mannford, Oklahoma 74044


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Lieu of Flowers
Contributions may be given to:
Shriners Hospitals for Children
P.O. Box 947765
Atlanta, GA 30394
in George's memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



GEORGE ANDREW RASMUSSEN   
of KIEFER, OKLAHOMA
FORMERLY OF
 MANNFORD, OKLAHOMA
AGE   92
BORN
July 19, 1931 in
LaJunta, CO.
ENTERED REST
April 27, 2024 in
Tulsa, OK.
PARENTS
Orsen & Annie Rasmussen
RETIRED  
Food Broker
MILITARY SERVICE
U.S. Air Force Veteran

PREDECEASED BY:
PARENTS, WIFE Luann &
SON  Greg Andrew Rasmussen

SURVIVED BY:
CHILDREN
Allen & Kathleen Rasmussen of Corpus, Christi, TX.
Johnna Walker of Kiefer, OK.
GRANDCHILDREN
Nicki & Trent Cornelius of Ft. Worth, TX.
Andrew & Amanda Rasmussen of Tittusville, FL.
Sunnie Walker of Kiefer, OK.
Amy & Brandon Irwin of Albuquerque, NM.
Joshua Rasmussen of College Station, TX.
NIECES & NEPHEWS
Mike & Susan McGuire of Albuquerque, NM.
Kellie & Greg Cogdill of Albuquerque, NM.
Teresa & Richard Maxwell of Walla Walla, WA.
Andrew & Kathleen Wagner of Dubois, ID.
Tine & Richard Wagner of Idaho Falls, ID.
BROTHER-IN-LAW
Max Wagner of Dubois, ID.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following was lovingly written by George's son, 
Allen and also by George himself.



George Rasmussen completed 
his adventure on earth April 27, 2024.  
His motto in life was to be 
positive, courteous, 
and always encourage people.  
He never met a stranger 
and loved to see them smile.  
He believed you should always find the 
best in people and tell them.  
What mattered to him was 
how hard you tried,
 not what you achieved.  
Never do anything halfway, 
he would often say.

He was always doing something.  
 His career was being a grocery salesman 
and he was passionate about it.  
He enjoyed traveling 
and the adventure it provided.  
His view of retirement was that
 you don't retire from something 
you retire into something 
so you could keep doing things. 
 He loved his family 
and being with them. 
 He was always there 
for us and ready to help. 
 Whatever your interest was 
he would do it with you.
 He believed in Christ 
and found forgiveness. 

His legacy was to help people see
 they are better than they realized!

It is difficult to summarize 
what he has done in his life 
so we have chosen to 
provide a summary of his life 
from a longer history
 he wrote for his grandchildren.



I grew up in Dubois, Idaho.  
My parents, Orson and Ann Rasmussen,
 owned a building that had a restaurant 
and grocery store on the ground floor 
with a hotel on the second floor. 
I spent my time working in 
each of the businesses with them. 
 I also had a paper route in town. 
 In the winter I would put sleigh bells 
on my horse, Polly, to deliver the papers. 
 It was a great time going around town, 
riding the sleigh with the bells ringing.  
In the summers, Dad sent 
me to Kilgore, Idaho 
where I worked for 
my Uncle Jep Anderson 
and then for my Uncle John Rasmussen 
driving horse teams putting up hay 
and milking cows.  
I graduated from
 Dubois High School in 1949 
with eleven other students. 

I went to Idaho State University 
and worked part-time at a grocery store. 
Then on January 1, 1951,
 my friend, Bob Tavener, 
told me he received his 
draft notice for the Korean War.  
I was next in line for Clark County, 
so we both joined the Air Force.  
Four days later we were on a troop train 
headed to San Antonio, TX for basic training.  
At the end of the training, 
we were gathered to get 
our next assignments.   
A Captain walked in
 and said he needed 150 volunteers.  
He then walked to the line I was standing in 
and counted off 150 men.  
I apparently volunteered. 
 It was interesting to learn 
how the military got volunteers. 
He told us we were a new 
special guard unit
 for the Air Forces nuclear arsenal,
 the 1094th USAF Special 
Reporting Squadron. 
I had hoped to join the Air Force
 to see the world and my tests
 qualified me to become an aircraft mechanic, 
instead I was trained by army rangers 
at Killeen Air Base and became a guard 
at the nation's top secret military bases.  

From Killeen I was sent to Sandia Base 
in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  
I was injured during a training mission 
when the driver of an M-20 armored vehicle 
rolled it off a mountain.   
I had some burns and a back injury. 
 It was not an exciting time 
but it was when I met 
my wife Luann Stiles.   
The Air Force was going to transfer 
me to Okinawa, Japan 
so Ann and I decided to get married 
in July 1953, before I left.  
But in August my orders 
were canceled because 
they did not have the medical facilities 
to continue to treat my back injury.
  It was also during this period
 that I joined the Masonic lodge.  
My father and grandfather were
 members and this group 
provided me support and friendship 
regardless of where I lived throughout my life.

I was discharged from the USAF 
in February, 1954. 
Ann and I moved back to Idaho.  
I started back to college that fall 
but chose to go to the 
University of Idaho in Moscow. 
 This is where our first son, 
Greg Andrew Rasmussen, 
was born in 1956. 
 After he was born I decided
 I needed a job 
more than education.
 I got a job selling appliances 
in Idaho Falls, so we moved. 
 That year the potatoes froze in the ground 
and no one was buying anything.
  I also seemed to be digging my car
 out of snow banks all winter
 so we started looking south.

I found a job in Monticello, Utah
 with National Lead Co., 
a uranium mill, as an accountant.  
We moved into our in first home, 
a 8x30 ft trailer. 
 When our second son, 
George Allen Rasmussen, 
was born in  1957, 
 it was very tight in that little trailer.  
The mill was closed so 
we continued our migration south.

We moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico 
and I became a salesman
 for Nabisco in 1958. 
This is where our daughter, 
Johnna Leann Rasmussen, 
was born 1963.   
 In 1966 we moved to the outskirts 
(South Valley) of Albuquerque.  
Here I was able to teach my kids 
how to handle livestock. 
 This was mostly to keep them busy
 and out of trouble.  
We had horses, pigs, and chickens.  
The two boys even raised 
rabbits for a local meat market
 and mice for pet stores. 
 We also boarded 15 horses for other people.  
This kept the boys busy. 
 We were involved with 4-H 
and a local horse club 
called the Trail Riders.
  We spent many weekends 
at horse shows, Jr. rodeos, 
and trail rides in the mountains 
of New Mexico.
  We also had many 
fishing trips with
 Ann's sister's family 
around New Mexico.

In June 1970, I was hired by
 Arnett Brokerage Company
 and rose to the 
Vice President for Sales.  
We moved to their headquarters
 in Lubbock, Texas in 1973. 
 We completed our southern migration
 by moving to El Paso, Texas 
in 1976 where I opened a new branch..
 We were selling groceries
 from west Texas 
to Phoenix, Arizona 
and northern Mexico.  
I had a tremendous time 
helping build this company.

While I was in El Paso, 
I became involved in the 
Masonic Shrine Organization. 
 I was in the clown
 and mini car units. 
While we had lots of fun,
 our real mission was to
 raise funds to help children
 get treatment at the 
Shrine Crippled Children 
and Burn Hospitals. 
This became a passion for me 
and it was an honor helping 
these kids and their families.

While we were in El Paso, 
Ann and I also had the opportunity
 to travel because of the 
company's success. 
 We went to Europe, Africa 
and Central America.  
We had lots of fun dancing 
and seeing different
 parts of the world. 
 One time in Acapulco, 
Ann's shoes were hurting her feet,
 so I told her to take off her high heels. 
 I put one in each back pocket.  
She was embarrassed 
and said we can't do this. 
 I told her no one will ever 
see us again so who cares.  
We kept dancing through the night!

In 1990, I retired and we moved to
 Mannford, Oklahoma. 
 My mother was originally
 from this area 
and I still had her land grants.
  It was 80 acres overgrown with brush.   
Over the next 25 years we fenced, 
built a road, barn,
 set up an arena, and started raising horses, 
cattle and goats.  
Our son Greg was driving trucks 
and moved to Mannford as well.  
We took care of his son Andy, 
while he was on the road. 
 Johnna and her two girls
 (Nicki and Sunni) 
came to live with us in 1997.
 This really allowed
 us to start focusing
 on raising barrel horses
 for our granddaughters.
  We started our brand. 
The diamond ?. 
 It fit us well.  
Why were we doing all 
this as retirees?

I also joined the
 Mannford Masonic Lodge
 which welcomed me, 
provided friendship 
and helped me make 
Mannford my home.  
Half of my 60+ years as a mason
 has been spent with 
these special friends. 

As retirees, Ann and I spent 
much of our retirement
 going to high school
 rodeo's watching
 our granddaughters (Johnna's) 
and our horses compete. 
 In our retirement, 
Ann became a wildlife rehabilitator 
for the State.
  They brought all sorts 
of baby wildlife to us, 
mostly fawns.  
She would raise them, 
then reintroduce them
 back into the wild.  
This is what got us into 
the goat business. 
 I built milking stands for the goats
 and would put a fawn on each side so 
I wouldn't need to feed the deer
 or milk the goats.  
It started to get out of hand when 
we had a barn full of fawns and 
ended up with over 100 goats.
 Ann was the rehabilitator. 
I cleaned up after the animals. 
Ann raised and reintroduced into the wild 
not just deer but squirrels, 
opossums, raccoons, 
bobcats, and coyotes.  
No, it did not make sense - 
we were raising both the 
predators and the prey.  
Yet it fit the brand well and they
 all got along when they 
were at the house.

Allen did not follow us to Oklahoma, 
though he and his wife Kathleen spent many 
vacations helping us build our
 retirement infrastructure in Mannford.  
We also made many trips to visit them 
and their son Joshua 
wherever they lived at the time. 

Unfortunately, Ann died in 2004. 
 I was getting older
 so I had to reduce the animals and
 sold off the goat herd and the horses.  
 In 2006, I met Ann Kreymborg 
who was from Tulsa, Oklahoma. 
 We had many fun adventure 
over the next 11 years. 
We would spend several days 
a week together 
normally going to dinner 
and dancing Thursday to Sunday. 
 We had a group of friends and
 would all hang out together 
going to dances and dinner.  
We also did cruises in the Caribbean,
 Panama and Alaska.
 We took several trips around the US,
 even meeting Allen and 
his family in Wyoming
 and white water rafting 
at the young age of 75! 
We had great fun. 
 Unfortunately she died in 2016. 

Finally, with my health conditions,
 I moved to Kiefer, Oklahoma 
to be closer to medical facilities. 
 I am lucky Johnna lived with me because 
it kept me out of the nursing home.  
 In 2020, my health declined
 and I needed help 
while Johnna was at work. 
 I was blessed when 
Sheena Johnson
 came to help me during the day. 
Over the next three years she 
also helped me understand forgiveness.  
She is an amazing person.  
She and her family became 
part of my family.  
I was so happy to see 
her start nursing school.  
Sheena allowed me to stay at home 
and this gave me the chance to get to know 
and be called Papa by all my grandkids 
and great grandkids. 
 I could not think of a greater gift.

 In summary, I have migrated
 from the northern
 to the southern borders 
of the western US 
and finally rested in Oklahoma. 
I have had great friends, 
created amazing memories 
and seen many breathtaking sites, 
traveled Europe, Africa, 
South America and all over the US.  
My three kids have 
given me seven grandkids
 and 10 great grandkids. 
 I have been blessed 
with a caring family. 
 In all - 
my life has been
 a wonderful adventure
 that I have cherished.