Vernon August Reding

1946 - 2024

Vernon August Reding

October 15, 1946 - September 22, 2024

Vernon (Vern) August Reding, age 77, passed away on Sunday, September 22, 2024. Vern was born at Harlan Hospital near Defiance, IA., on October 15, 1946, to Irmin Reding and Marie (Schechinger) Reding. He grew up farming which built both his venerable work ethic and deep love of animals, especially dogs. He graduated from the University of Iowa and was an avid Hawkeye fan. Vern spent the majority of his career as a civil engineer for the State of Wisconsin's Department of Transportation, later working for DAAR Engineering. While his engineering career was impressive, he preferred to instead focus on the many friendships and fun social connections he made along the way. Vern was a lifelong athlete, enjoying baseball in his youth, tennis throughout his adult life and later pickleball. He was known for his ability to ace entire games with his tennis serve. Throughout his retirement, he enjoyed many years of travel and hiking in Arizona and all over the U.S. with Christine and their many rescue dogs. Vern was passionate about equality and human rights, but not a fan of all the modern terms and convoluted politics. Instead, he followed an Iowa farm boy policy of treating everyone the same and maintaining that he was never too busy to interact meaningfully with every new person he ever came across, particularly with his favorite first question: "So...where did you grow up?" Vern enjoyed his role as a father, husband and big brother to his four siblings, but his heart shone the brightest in his role as "Grandpa Nernie" and he enjoyed special connections with every one of his grandchildren, taking great care to learn and support their individual personalities and spend quality time with them.

Vern is survived by his wife Christine; three children: Amy Andrews, Chad (Anna) Reding, and Peter (Kim) Reding; his bonus daughters: Sarah (Andy) Plamann, Elizabeth (Ryan) Wisniewski, Zan (Mike) Brody, and Annette (Morgan) Bridges; his 10 grandchildren; siblings: Marvin (Deb) Reding, Larry (Pat) Reding, Linda (Lyle) Muhlbauer, Deb (Jim) Davis; and his devoted dog Baylee. He was preceded in death by his parents. A heartfelt thank you to Agrace, who helped support our family to provide Vern a peaceful passing, at home, as he desired. We are certain he skyrocketed straight to heaven to eternally enjoy his beloved mother's cooking.

Family will greet friends for a visitation held on Saturday, October 19, 2024 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Cambridge Nitardy Funeral Home, 208 Park Street, Cambridge, WI 53523. A service will follow the visitation and will begin at 1pm. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to be made in Vern's honor to your local humane society or any other local dog rescue organization. Online condolences can be made at www.nitardyfuneralhome.com