Philip Wesley Erdmann

January 23, 1929 - May 6, 2024

Visitation

• Date: May 15, 2024
• Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
• Location: United Church of Christ - Osage

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Funeral Service

• Date: May 15, 2024
• Time: 11:00 a.m.
• Location: United Church of Christ - Osage, Iowa

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Burial

• Date: May 15, 2024
• Location: Osage Cemetery - Osage, Iowa

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Philip Wesley Erdmann, 95, of Osage passed away May 6 at MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center in Mason City. He was a resident of Evergreen Senior Living in Osage. Visitation will be at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 15 at the United Church of Christ, 630 State Street, Osage. Funeral services will follow there at 11:00 a.m., with Pastor Dixie L. Laude officiating. Following lunch, burial will be in the Osage Cemetery. The family requests that in lieu of flowers memorials be made to the United Church of Christ in Osage or the Bolan Trinity United Methodist Church. Phil Erdmann was born January 23, 1929 at Rock Township in Mitchell County. He was the oldest of three sons of Erwin and Irene (Steiger) Erdmann. Phil attended school at Rock No. 2 Township until the age of 12 then Barton No. 2 in Bolan through eighth grade. He graduated from Kensett High School in 1946. He served in the Navy from 1946 to 1948 and was considered a World War II veteran as a member of the Allied occupation and rehabilitation of Japan following the war. Phil married Ruth R. Kruger on June 15, 1952 at what is now the Manly Lutheran Church. They had three children and lived their entire married lives in the Bolan and Osage communities. Phil’s work included managing a Custom Farm Services plant in Grafton and delivering fuel oil for the Osage Co-Op Elevator. He was aptly named, as Philip has the meaning “lover of horses.” Phil raised Shetland ponies and later Quarter Horses and was active in the American Quarter Horses community throughout the upper Midwest. He was also an avid family and north Iowa historian, often sharing stories in the one-room schoolhouse during the Mitchell County Fair. He was also an enthusiastic sports fan, particularly of the St. Louis Cardinals, area high schools and colleges. He is survived by a younger brother, Roger Erdmann of Northwood; a son Loran Erdmann and his wife Paula of Destin, Florida; their daughter Hillary Fosdyck, her husband Cory, and their children Nash, Micah, Zion, Monroe and Crosley of Destin, Florida; a daughter Janet Ryerson and her husband Roger of Destin, Florida; and son Arlen Erdmann and his wife Debbie of Leesburg, Florida. Phil was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Ruth, grandson Ross Erdmann of Macomb, Illinois, and brother Howard Erdmann of Northwood. His family would like to give special thanks to the wonderful and caring staff at Evergreen Senior Living, Mitchell County Regional Heath Center and MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center. Champion Funeral Homes, Osage, 641-732-3706,