Sibley, Iowa — A man who served as both a state senator and a state representative in the 1980s and 1990s has passed away.
Richard Vande Hoef was originally from Boyden, but moved to Osceola County. He served two years in the U.S. Army during World War II.
He was first elected State Senator in 1980 and served in the Iowa Senate for 12 years. After the 1990 reapportionment, Vande Hoef served six years in the Iowa House of Representatives. Upon his retirement from the legislature in 1998, he and his wife Harriet moved to Sibley.
According to his family, Vande Hoef retained an active interest and engagement in civic activities and considered his work on Hawkeye Point — the highest point in Iowa — and developing it as an attractive asset to the area, one of his greatest accomplishments.
Vande Hoef was 95.
