Not My Style

 A friend bought a Chevy SSR. The Chevrolet SSR (S uper S port R oadster) is a retro-styled retractable hardtop convertible pickup truck manufactured by Chevrolet between 2003 and 2006. He brought it home and all hell broke loose from his family. Two days later he was practically begging me to buy it from him. So I did.

My friend bought it back about two years later after he moved to Florida. A car like this belongs in a climate like Florida, and I was happy to see it go. I am not into flashy items and this screamed flashy. Was it fun? Yes, a few times when Debbie and I drove to the Dairy Queen.

Ted Lussem - Insurance Icon and Friend

My friend Ted Lussem was a prominent figure in the local insurance industry, starting in 1955 and later leading what became Brooks-Lussem Insurance (now part of BLC Insurance in Urbandale). I was honored when his wife Sherrie asked me to give his eulogy. Below is Ted’s obituary. No obituary can capture the immense positive impact Ted had on countless people both in the insurance industry and his community.

Theodore D. “Ted” Lussem, age 83, passed away Saturday, February 27, 2021. Services will be 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at Hamilton’s on Westown Parkway, 3601 Westown Pkwy, West Des Moines with visitation from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9th. Masks are required. Interment will be at Rising Sun Cemetery.

Ted was born October 14, 1937 in Des Moines, Iowa to Henry J. Lussem and Gertrude (Bychowski) Lussem. With the exception of a six year period in the 1960s when he lived in Springfield, IL and Grand Rapids, MI, Ted was a lifelong resident of the Des Moines area. He grew up on the east side and was a graduate of East High School.

For more than 60 years Ted worked in the insurance business starting with Crum & Forester Group in 1955, then Hawkeye-Security Insurance in 1957, then finally what was to become Brooks-Lussem Insurance, Inc. in 1968.

His civic involvement included: Trustee and past Chairman of Broadlawns Medical Center; Citizen Member of City of Des Moines Police and Fire Pension Board; Member of the City of Des Moines Riverfront Improvement Commission; Charter Member of the Pioneer Sons and Daughters Genealogical Society and their treasurer; Charter Member and treasurer of the Des Moines Historical Society; and Board Member of Iowa Genealogical Society. He had been the President of the East Des Moines Club and he was the recipient of the 1994 Better Business Bureau’s Excellence Award. He also served over ten years on the Lutheran Hospital Patients Advisory Committee.

In the insurance industry, Ted was a Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU). He had been President of the Independent Insurance Agents of Des Moines twice and was their Education Chairman and their treasurer for many years. Ted was also a member and past president of the Iowa Chapter of CPCU and their historian. He was also a member of the Insurance Association of Greater Des Moines and had received their CPIM designation in 2005. In addition he taught insurance classes at both Drake University and DMACC for several insurance organizations. In 1993, he was the author of a historical monograph titled “The Independent Insurance Agent in Des Moines” and in 2006 authored the 100th Anniversary Book on the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa. Ted was treasurer of the Fire Mark Circle of the Americas and treasurer of the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame organization.

In 1998, the Iowa Chapter of CPCU named an annual scholarship “The Theodore “Ted” Lussem Achievement Scholarship”. In 1999, he was named a “Standard Setter” by the national CPCU Society and in 2000 was inducted into the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame. In 2009 the national CPCU Society honored him with the CPCU Excellence Award.

Ted is survived by his wife of 63 years, Sherrie C. Lussem, and his nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Henry J. and Gertrude Lussem, his sister Therese in 1954, and his brother Henry Jr. in 2010.

My eulogy to Ted: 

A Visit to Kearney

 A pleasant time was had by all.

The Final Frontier

It has been almost two years since I got very sick and was close to death. My immune system thought my colon was a foreign invader and mercilessly attacked it. It was a severe case of ulcerative colitis and it hit me quickly and completely. I had a colectomy in September of 2017. I experienced postoperative pancreatitis and had numerous collections of fluids in my abdomen causing inflammation in many organs. I was in a lot of pain, extreme pain, and lost almost 80 pounds, about 43% of my normal weight. After three months in a Des Moines hospital, I was transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

What an incredible place! In a matter of weeks, a team of skilled medical professionals drained the fluids and set me on the path to recovery. It took about a year to recover my strength and to gain about half of my weight back. Today I have the constant reminder of the ordeal in the form of an ostomy pouch that collects the output from my small intestine. Yes, this has been a big lifestyle adjustment but it is a life and one that I appreciate every day.

Throughout the ordeal, I often felt like an observer, i.e., an individual consciousness that was separate from me. This consciousness, I called it Bob 2.0, was aware of the situation, made assessments, and instructed “me”, which I called Bob 1.0, on how to respond.

A few times it felt like my hospital bed was moving. Not shaking but moving around the room. Bob 2.0 would take over and quickly realized that it was a hallucination caused by the many pain medications, and possibly the antibiotics, I was taking. So, Bob 2.0 would advise Bob 1.0 on how to get control of the bed, steer it back to where it should be, and make it stop moving. If Debbie was in the room at the time, I could tell her what was happening as Bob 2.0. As the episode resolved I would continue the conversation as Bob 1.0. There was one time when Bob 2.0 could not get control of the situation and Bob 3.0 took over by giving Bob 2.0 some encouragement that was then used to help direct Bob 1.0.  The three faces of Bob?

Another experience that happened often was a bright light that would surround the items on the wall in my room. The TV, whiteboard, clock, and pictures would be outlined in a bright red or blue border. Again Bob 2.0 analyzed the situation and told Bob 1.0 that it was another hallucination. Whenever it occurred, I would make myself go to sleep and the issue was always gone when I regained consciousness.

I also remember experiencing a dream where electronic devices like cell phones, tablets, and personal computer components were floating in space. Each item looked familiar to me. They were encased in separate bubbles and were floating up in a DNA-type spiral against a bright blue background. It was very vivid and appeared to be real. Bob 2.0 again realized this too was a hallucination.

So today I am back to “normal”.  That is a new normal with a bit less energy and a stoma covered by an ostomy pouch. Life is good!

10% Failure Rate

I am sure this banner at Jordan Creek Town Center is meant as a brag but a 10% failure rate is appalling to me.

It must be appalling to the 10% that spent about $80,000 each just to graduate into unemployment.