Arnold Schellhorn passed away Friday February 17, 2023 at the Cedar Valley Hospice Home in Waterloo after a battle with dementia. He was born October 30, 1926, in the rural area near Fredrika, Iowa, the son of Wilhelmina (Warnke) and Henry Schellhorn. He was baptized at the Evangelical & Reformed Church in rural Sumner and was confirmed at St. Peter Lutheran Church in rural Bremer County. In his early years, he lived on the family farm near Grove Hill where he attended rural grade school. He walked or rode his bicycle 4.5 miles one way to Readlyn for his freshman year of high school. After that, he worked at home to help with the family farming duties. On November 18, 1947, he married Lorna Sell at St. John Lutheran Church in Buck creek. He and his Bride lived in rural Bremer County and near Oelwein before moving to Oran in 1954 where he would build his family home. Arnold’s work history included working at Rath Packing Company in Waterloo before settling in at Lorber Construction in Oran where he worked for approximately 50 years. For several years in the 1970’s, Arnold would “moonlight” repairing shoes on night a week for Duffy’s Shoe Store in Oelwein. It was also around this time that Arnold and Lorna operated a lunch trailer for approximately 6 years, named the “Tummy Stuffer”, which they pulled to auctions and provided hot food/concessions for the auction attendees. After “retiring”, Arnold still enjoyed staying busy doing small carpentry projects for various people around town upon request. He wanted to be a friend to all he met and desired that all persons he met would also consider him as their friend. To say the least, he was usually pretty quick with a joke to put a smile on other peoples faces.

Arnold and Lorna were known for dancing several nights a week. They enjoyed fishing (but never took much time to do so) and enjoyed playing cards, laughing, and having fun with other couples. they also enjoyed boating/water skiing in the summer and ice skating/sledding in the winter with other families in the Oran area. Arnold enjoyed being a work mentor to his grandsons as well as being with all his grandchildren and attending their activities. Arnold was a life-long and active member of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Oran. The church was a big part of his life as he served on all council positions in addition to mowing the church lawns and doing church custodial work. He began opening the church for the Sunday services every Sunday beginning in approximately 1958 and continued doing so for more than 55 years. He was an Oran Fire Department member for several years and served as the Assistant Fire Chief for approximately 3 years. He was a district officer for Aid Association for Lutherans and Thrivent for several years and was secretary of the Oran sanitation District for many years.

Arnold is survived by 2 sons, Galen (Elaine) of rural Sumner and Alan of Oran; 3 grandchildren, Aaron (Lindsay) Schellhorn of Melbourne, Florida, Travis (Katie) Schellhorn of Independence, and Anna (Kyle) Lillmars of Englewoods, Colorado; one step grandchild, Kerri (Curtis) VanEe of Waverly; 3 great-grand daughters and 4 step great-grandchildren. Arnold is preceded in death by his beloved wife of 67 years, Lorna; one son, Ronnie John (died in infancy); 2 sisters, Adeline Schellhorn and Ester Niemeyer; 7 brothers, Marvin and Lavern (both lost in infancy), Roland, Willhart, Erwin, Lorenz, and Orlyn.

Visitation: 4:00-7:00pm Wednesday February 22, 2023 at Woods Funeral Home in Fairbank, and for one hour before services at the church on Thursday.

Funeral Services: 10:30am Thursday February 23, 2023 at St. Peters Lutheran Church in Oran

Interment: Grove Hill Cemetery

In Lieu of flowers and plants, memorials may be directed to the family for later designation

Lunch will be served following services at St. Peters in Oran.