Gerald Pasker

PASKER, STONE, COWEN, WILLENBORG, GROTE, RAUEN

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 7/29/2021 at 10:01:47

27 July 1964 - The Anamosa Journal

MONTICELLO - Funeral services were held Saturday morning for Gerald Pasker, 44, at the Sacred Heart church with the Rt. Msgr Enzene P. Lorenz officiating.

He was buried with military honor at the Sacred Heart cemetery. Monticello industrialist was killed last Wednesday in a crash with his own airplane in Winnipeg, Canada.

President of Energy Manufacturing Co., Pasker was believed the pilot of the plane in which one other man died and two more were injured during a takeoff from the International airport.

Also killed in the crash which happened moments after takeoff was Maxwell Ross, Winnipeg, general manager of Universal distributors in which Pasker was a part owner. Suffering multiple fractures were David Pearlman and Ronald Polinsky, also of Winnipeg.

Eyewitness to the crash was Bill Karlman, 35, an airport gasoline salesman. He said he and a pilot friend watched the Beechcraft takeoff as a high wind arose suddenly.

"The plane was just nicely airborne about 150 feet high when it apparently ran into a downdraft," Karlman related. Then the wing dipped and the plane plummeted to the ground and "Suddenly all I could see was a big ball of fire."

Inquest into the accident was held last Thursday at Winnipeg. Pasker and his associates were flying to Regina, Sask., for a one-day business meeting. Pasker family was vacationing at Lake Okoboji in northwestern Iowa.

Pasker was born and lived in New Vienna in northeast Iowa where his father owned a blacksmith shop. It was there he put together his first hydraulic loader which eventually allowed him to build his $750 savings into a $3,000,000 business with only a high school education.

During the 1950's Pasker's success story was told in an article in Fortune magazine entitled "100 Stories of Business Success, or How to Get Rich as Fast as Possible."

It was in 1945 that he opened a shop in Monticello called the Industrious Farmer Equipment Co. Name later was changed to the present Energy Manufacturing Co.

Pasker then went into military service, returning to Monticello in 1946. Business was good and the plant expanded from 8500 to 100,000 square feet of floor space. Manufactured there were hydraulic pumps, valves, cylinders, wagon and truck hoists, road grader, cement mixers and boat trailers.

As president and general manager of Energy, Pasker flew often on business and hunting trips. He owned a helicopter and helped at least twice in rescuing people. Monticello businessman was an active member in the local flying club and was instrumental in securing a larger airport which is now under construction.

Pasker and his wife, LaVon, were married May 20, 1941, and had five children. Survivors include his wife and children, Mrs. Douglas Stone, Mrs. Jerry Cowen, Sondra, Donna and Gary; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. B. J. Pasker, New Vienna; three sisters, Mrs. Fred Willenborg, Dyersville; Catherine Grote and Mrs. William Rauen, Dubuque.