Olen William Lambert

Olen William Lambert, 83, of Newton, passed away July 18, 2019.

Olen was born Feb. 12, 1936, to Orville and Lois Lambert of Keokuk. He was known as “Olie” to his friends. He proudly served in the infantry in the U.S. Army for six years and in the Korean War. After his military service, Olen met his wife Joyce and moved to Newton where he had a varied career: he worked construction, worked at Dealer’s Warehouse, owned and operated the Owl Lunch restaurant, and in retirement worked as a security guard at the Equitable Building in Des Moines. His primary employment was working 21 years for Winpower Manufacturing in Newton, where he was active in the United Auto Workers labor union and was elected shop chairman by his fellow union members. Olen was also active in Democratic politics for his entire adult life, served as the president of the Jasper County Young Democrats in the 1960s and was a frequent letter-to-the-editor writer. He was a scoutmaster for the Cub Scouts when his four sons were in scouting. Olen was an amazing harmonica player — he had dozens of harmonicas of all sizes and could play any song someone would ask for. He was frequently asked to play harmonica at events.

Olen is survived by his wife, Joyce (Guthrie) Lambert of Newton; and four sons, all in Iowa, Rick Adams (Debbie) of Grinnell, Randy Adams of Blue Grass, Larry Lambert (Lisa Kolleh) of Des Moines and Mark Lambert (Terry) of Polk City. He is also survived by seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; one sister, Willadean; and three brothers, Gerald, Joe and Robert; and one infant granddaughter.

Olen’s family looks forward to seeing family and friends at a visitation in Olen’s honor from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 27 at the Jasper County Church of Christ (the former UAW hall), 1813 First St. N. in Newton.

Print