Frank Caughey

Frank Caughey, Jr., 80, of Spirit Lake, passed away Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at Spencer Municipal Hospital. Frank Phelps Caughey was born on May 9, 1930 in Ft. Dodge, Iowa the son of Frank Phelps and LuVerne (Harrison) Caughey. Frank attended school in Algona, Iowa. He was baptized at the Presbyterian Church in 1942. Frank was united in marriage to Leila Ann Rutledge on Dec. 3, 1950 at Good Hope Church in Plum Creek, IA. Their union was blessed with 3 sons, Joel of Lake Park, IA, Bradley and Chris of Milford. Frank was a Navy Korean War Veteran serving from 1951-1955 with destroyer squadron #34 primarily aboard the USS Hazelwood. After his discharge he was a long-haul trucker, owned and operated diesel repair facilities in Spencer and Algona, IA and was an agricultural and industrial equipment salesman working up to National Sales Manager covering the entire United States. He was the recipient of many top sales awards in his positions with AgBag, Corp., Fairmont Steel and in insurance sales. He was also a Sales Manager for Hollowell Corporation. After retiring from sales in 1997 he returned to long-haul trucking until his retirement in 2005. Frank, was "Bud" to his surviving sisters and brother-in-law, Beverly & George West, and Jennifer Largen, and "Uncle Frank" to nieces Pamela (Terry) McCleave, Erica Largen and nephews, Tom (Vi), Greg (Melissa), Brian (Jennifer) West and Daniel (Debbie) Largen and many great-nieces and nephews. Frank had 4 grand-children, Chad McEnroe, Kelly (Pat) Colling, and Kathy (Dana) Harker and Jason (Mandy) Salmon and 6 great-grandchildren. Frank believed in hard work (saying hard work never killed anyone), using the mind instead of the calculator, and knew he was sometimes a hard man to understand but he loved his family, encouraging them to never stop learning, be their own individual, get as much education as you can, love your country, value freedom and support the military. He was proud of his military service and attended several ship reunions with his good Navy friend Joel Coffman. In recent years he was very fortunate to have had the love and support of his many caring friends during this last difficult battle.