Richard Anderson

He was born in Chicago, on Feb. 9, 1948, to Lorraine and John Richard “Dick” Anderson. He lived in Richland Center, Niagara, Wis. and Pembine, Wis., where he graduated high school in 1966.

Rick began his plumbing apprenticeship when he was 16, attending trade schools in Green Bay, Wis., and Iron Mountain. In 1969 he became the youngest person to get his master plumbers license in the state of Wisconsin and followed up with a Michigan Master Plumbers license.

Rick raced his Polaris snowmobile in sanctioned races and his 1964 Daytona Blue convertible Corvette Stingray in the dragstrip at Kaukauna, Wis.

He joined the Army in 1969, doing his basic training at Fort Campbell, Ky. He was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and assigned to Fort Jackson, S.C., to work temporary duty at a Guided Missile Project site.

Rick found his soulmate Nancy Pierce while “pounding the drag” in Iron Mountain in his Corvette. They married on March 5, 1971, at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church.

They owned 40 acres near Pembine where they lived in a three room “hunting shack” for two 1/2 years with no indoor plumbing until they completed building their first new home. Soon they began their family with daughter, Tracy Jo, son, Richard “Robb,” and daughter, Jaimie Jo.

In 1981 Rick started Rick’s Plumbing and Heating, later changing the name to Rick’s Mechanical Contractors, Inc. Rick taught Nancy how to install copper water lines while he did the waste lines, both working side by side to build a successful business. All three of his children, brother-in-law, Mark Warmuth, mother-in-law, Dee Pierce, and nephews, Matt and Brian Warmuth all worked with him over the years. His son-in-law, Chris Haelterman worked in the field with him and now has his own plumbing business with his son, Alec, in Iron Mountain, continuing the family trade for the fourth generation of plumbers.

Rick earned many state licenses in order to do plumbing, heating, A/C, medical gas, boilers as well others. One job in particular Rick was proud of was when Rick’s Mechanical installed the complete dialysis system for the V.A. hospital in Iron Mountain.

In 1984, Rick and Nancy moved to Iron Mountain. Once again they lived in a garage/workshop they built for two 1/2 years until their home was ready, but this time they at least had indoor plumbing. Their dream home, complete with a barn for two horses, was Rick’s own design and an example of his ability to be uniquely creative, which was evident in all of his woodworking projects, especially in the beds he made for his three grandsons and daughter, Jaimie.

He created one of a kind quilting furniture for Nancy, gave up a two car garage so she could have a basket shop and built her an amazing table for her classes, which then doubled for hosting family holiday dinners. Rick only worked with oak and the joke was always about how big and heavy the projects were — they always needed three men and a boy to get them out of his workshop and the girls to reassemble them on location. He put his signature on all of his projects, along with the name: “The Not So Perfect Furniture Company.”

Rick’s creativity extended to developing and being granted a United States Patent for a plumbing invention in 2012 called the “Anderson Piercing Valve Stem Assembly and System.”

Rick retired in 2018. In addition to watching goofy movies, camping, boating, and 4-wheeling, he was involved in all of his family’s hobbies. He went to his grandson’s football games, soccer matches, swimming lessons, and bowling tournaments. He encouraged Nancy, Tracy, Robb and Jaimie to get certified in scuba diving with him — his grandson Eli will soon follow. He watched Tracy ride her horse with the Minneapolis Mounted Patrol. He spent time at camp hunting (napping in the blind), drinking vodka and orange juice, and target practicing.

Rick loved to travel. He went rock crawling in Moab with Jaimie and Robb, several fly-in fishing trips in Canada, prairie dog hunting in S.D., snorkeling in Cancun, Acapulco, and the Virgin Islands, visiting seven of their 10 foreign exchange students all around Europe, measuring the roads in Ireland by lying across them, hot air balloon riding in Albuquerque, N.M., and being part of a “balloon chase team,” riding horses on the beach in Costa Rica, along with many other family trips all over the United States.

Family was the most important of all to him.

Rick leaves behind his loving wife, Nancy Jo (Pierce) Anderson; daughter, Tracy (Chris) Haelterman of Iron Mountain, and grandsons, Alec and Brett; son, Richard “Robb” Anderson of Bowler, Wis. and grandson, Eli; daughter, Jaimie Anderson of Wausau, Wis.; brother, Andrew Anderson; in-laws, Roger Hopkins, Getty Anderson, Randy and Deanna Pierce, Wendy (Pierce) and Mark Warmuth, Dan Janish, and Christy (Walters) Wolff; mother-in-law, Dee Pierce; special friends, Trisha and Ean Kamps; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends all who became part of his loving family.

He was preceded in death by his father, John Richard Anderson and mother, Lorraine (Light) Anderson; brother, John Anderson; sister, Debra (Anderson) Hopkins; father-in-law, Roman Pierce; and in-laws, Jerry Pierce and Pamela (Pierce) Janish.

A memorial service will be held at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church on March 4. Time and details to be determined and announced in The Daily News closer to that date.

Arrangements are being handled by Erickson-Rochon and Nash Funeral Home in Iron Mountain.