Arlan Lee Risbeck

Services for Arlan Lee Risbeck, 82, of Chariton, Iowa will be held on Friday, February 18, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at the Pierschbacher Funeral Home in Chariton. Family will receive friends one hour prior to the service, beginning at 10:00 a.m. Interment will be at the Chariton Cemetery with military honors. A luncheon will be served following the burial.
Memorials may be made in Arlan’s honor to the Lucas County Veterans Memorial Park.

You may view the service via livestream through the following link: https://my.gather.app/remember/arlan-risbeck

Arlan Risbeck was born on May 23, 1939, to Milton John and Janie (Clendennen) Risbeck in Freedom, Iowa.

Arlan was extremely dedicated to his country. He spent four years active duty in the Navy, as well as, two years in the Marine Corps. He went to Vietnam in 1957, doing construction at the Nevada test site, where he got the bug to fly. He became a Corpsman at the medical school in San Diego, CA. Arlan then reenlisted, spending two years in the Fleet Marine Force (FMF). He went to infantry training at the FIeld Medical School, where he received orders to go to Okinawa, 3rd person missions in and out of Vietnam. He held a crucial job of updating maps and landing sites. Arlan was devoted to saving lives in the service, and enjoyed the Civil Air Patrol, where he spent fourteen years as a volunteer search and rescue pilot in Colorado, looking for lost aircrafts, hikers, etc.

Arlan met Dixie Carson around the age of thirteen and they dated throughout high school. On September 6, 1963, the couple was united in marriage. Arlan and Dixie have loved eachother every day since. While living in Des Moines, they were blessed with two daughters, Karen and Shari.

Arlan was a very hard working man. After moving to Colorado in 1982, he started a sheet metal company in his garage, eventually having 21 employees. He devised a way to put heat above the finished ceilings and did conversions from electric to gas.

In the 1990s, a hotel builder contracted him to do duct and heating work in just two days in a Comfort Inn. He ended up doing this in almost 100 motels in Colorado, Utah, Wisconsin, Nebraska, New Mexico, Arizona, Iowa, and South Dakota.

Arlan was self-taught on the steel guitar. He was extremely talented and played beautiful music. Over the years, Arlan played the steel guitar for audiences in several different states.

He had a wonderful sense of humor, ornery at times. If he set his mind to do something, you’d better step back, because he wasn’t going to stop until he accomplished it. He was quite the craftman, unique and smart.

Arlan would often say that he and Dixie were a great team. Dixie would do the cooking as long as he carried in the groceries and did the dishes. Arlan would say the reason they made it as long as they did together was because of her support in whatever he did.

Arlan was a great provider. He was very protective of his family, especially Dixie and the girls. He took great pride in his grandchildren as well, making them always feel strong and secure. He had an unwaivering love for them, always there for them if needed.

Arlan will be dearly missed by his wife of 58 years, Dixie; daughters, Karen (John) Hicks and Shari (Casey) Hubbard; grandchildren: Jessalynn Godshalk, Joshua Godshalk, Westyn Hubbard, and Desmond Hubbard; great granddaughter, Dahlia Black; and many other relatives and friends.

Preceding him in death were his parents, Milton and Janie Risbeck; and siblings, Donna Irvin and Richard Risbeck.