Randy C. Goerndt

Randolph Charles Goerndt, 70, of Afton, fought a courageous battle with cancer and entered his heavenly home, peacefully, Jan. 3, 2025, surrounded by his family. A Celebration of Life Service will be 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 10, at the United Methodist Church in Afton. Pastor Sheila Sutton will officiate. The service will be livestreamed at a link found under Randy’s obituary under events at the funeral home’s website. Burial will be in the Greenlawn Cemetery of Afton, with military honors by the Theodore J. Martens VFW Post #1797. Open visitation will be from 2 to 7 p.m., with family receiving friends from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 9, at the Afton United Methodist Church.

Memorials may be used for a DNR bench at Three Mile Lake or directed to the Afton United Methodist Church. Online condolences may be given at powersfh.com.

Randy was born May 19, 1954, to Ralph and Phyllis Goerndt. He grew up working on his uncle’s farm south of Des Moines. He was bucked off of the neighbor girl Deb’s pony when he was 10 years old. He and Deb later dated in high school and were married July 13, 1973. They moved to North Carolina where Randy was stationed at Fort Bragg as a Green Beret in the Army Special Forces. While in North Carolina, they had their first son, Jeff, in 1975. In 1977, they returned to Iowa and Randy attended Iowa State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in forestry. In 1981, just before graduation, their son Michael was born.

Randy was a district forester for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for 39 years before his retirement in 2020. He loved trees, his career in natural resources and the people he worked with and served. He managed to pass the forestry “bug” onto his two sons who are now career foresters.

Randy loved everything outdoors. He grew up hunting and fishing with his family and passed those passions on to his sons. His absolute favorite outdoor activity was bowhunting. He was a proud traditional archer and took many trophy deer with his recurve and longbow. He was also an avid turkey hunter, and enjoyed many, many fishing trips to Canada.

He had always dreamed of having a cabin in the woods, and in 2008 that dream became reality when he and Deb built a family vacation cabin in the woods at Table Rock Lake in Missouri. He loved spending time with his four grandchildren fishing, hunting and going for rides on the Kubota. He was fondly known as “Peepa,” and his grandkids will still say the cabin is their favorite place!

Randy faithfully served the Lord Jesus Christ his whole life, and was an ordained minister. He led his family to serve the Lord, and lived out his own faith by teaching adult Sunday School for over 35 years. Like the words of 2 Timothy 4:7, he fought the good fight, he finished the race, and he kept the faith.

Randy is survived by his wife of 51 years, Deb. He is also survived by his mother, Phyllis of Des Moines; his brothers, David of Eager, Arizona, and Kyle (Lori) of Gilbert, Arizona; nephews, Chad and Jason; sons, Jeff (Stefani) of Ankeny and Michael (Angela) of Pleasant Hope, Missouri; grandchildren: Connor, McKenna (Joseph) Eller, Carson and Collin and his beloved dog, Milo.

He was preceded in death by his father, Ralph.