Harold Gene Rickertsen

Harold Rickertsen 92, of St. Paul, Nebraska, died on August 10, 2025, in St. Paul.

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday September 6, 2025, at 11:00 am at the United Methodist Church in St. Paul.  Rev. Nicole Schwartz-Eck will be officiating. Kay Meyer will be the pianist. Sally Heusinkvelt and John Rickertsen are the vocalist. “For Those Tears I Died” will be the musical selection. In lieu of flowers memorials are suggested to the family to be designated at a later date. Jacobsen-Greenway-Dietz Funeral Home of St. Paul is assisting the family. 

Harold was born on April 18, 1933, in Alliance, Nebraska, to Henry and Edna (Heath) Rickertsen. When Harold was three the family moved to Lexington, Nebraska. Harold was baptized at the Presbyterian Church in Alliance, Nebraska. The pastor was the grandfather of Tom Osborn. He attended school through the eighth grade in Dawson County at District North 17. While attending Lexington High School he was a member of FFA and sang in the choir. He was a member of the Dawson Feeder 4-H club and was a confirmed member of the First Presbyterian Church in Lexington where he was active in youth group and sang in the choir. He graduated with the class of 1950 from Lexington High School. Harold met Mary Ann at Rural Youth that met at 6-mile corner on HWY 21 in Dawson County. After graduation he helped his father farm until he was drafted to the Army in May of 1953. In April of 1955, he was honorably discharged from the Army at the rank of Staff Sargent. On June 12, 1955, he was united in marriage to Mary Ann Joyce Sorensen at the First Presbyterian Church in Lexington. Three children were born to this union Kathleen “Kathy” Ann, Sally Louise, and John Ross. They started farming by renting ground in the Lexington area. While in Lexington he was honored by the Junior Chamber of Commerce as the 1962 Outstanding Young Farmer. They then purchased a farm near St. Paul, Nebraska in 1966 where the family moved to in 1967. The career he chose, with Mary Ann by his side, was raising irrigated corn and soybeans while also raising fat cattle with a special fondness for Charolais Angus steers. Harold retired from farming in 2000 and farmed all those years with John Deere tractors because the ‘red ones were just scrap iron’. Retirement allowed him and Mary Ann to travel to all fifty States and abroad. He was honored by the St Paul Chamber of Commerce in 1972 as the Outstanding Young Farmer. While his children were active in 4-H, he served as the Livestock leader for the Rounders 4-H Club. He was active in Farm Bureau for 70 years where he served in many areas on the local and state levels. He served on the Howard County Board of Adjustments for 8 years. He was a charter member of the St Paul Rotary Club that formed in 1985. In 2010 he was honored as the Rotarian of the Year. He served on the Farm Credit Services of America Board. He was a member of the United Methodist Church in St. Paul, Nebraska. 

Those left to cherish his memory are his spouse, Mary Ann; children, Sally (Ed) Heusinkvelt of Lexington, Nebraska and John (Jennifer) Rickertsen of Hettinger, North Dakota, and “German daughter” (foreign exchange student), Monika (Steger) Baller of Germany; seven grandchildren;12 great grandchildren; brother in-law, Dave Gauger; sisters-in-law, Ardella Scoville and Ginni Sorensen; and several nieces and nephews. 

He was preceded in death by daughter, Kathleen; parents, Henry and Edna Rickertsen and Eva Rickertsen; parents in-law, Frederick and Hazel Sorensen; sisters, Harriet Calkins and Mary Ruth Gauger; brothers in-law, Robert Calkins, Donald Sorensen and Marvin Scoville.