Dr. Derek L. Shickell

Dr. Derek L. Shickell, 42, was carried to heaven in the arms of Jesus on August 9, 2010. Services for Dr. Shickell will be held at Valley Evangelical Free Church, 4343 Fuller Road, West Des Moines. A visitation will be held on Thursday, August 12 from 6 to 8 pm and the funeral service will be on Friday, August 13 at 1:00 pm. A reception will follow the burial at Hamilton’s on Westown Parkway, 3601 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines.

Dr. Shickell was born in Denver, CO, the son of Fred and Charlyn (Frahm) Shickell on January 12, 1968. He attended Tri-County Schools in DeWitt, NE for K-9th grade where his father, Dr. Fred Shickell was Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Shickell is a graduate of East High School in Lincoln, NE. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. He holds a Master's Degree from the Chicago Medical School in Medical Radiation Physics, and completed a three month Physics internship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska Medical School in Omaha, NE with a Doctor of Medicine Degree. He completed his residency in Radiation Oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland and was Board certified in Radiation Oncology. He was on staff at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for four years in the Radiation Oncology Department and was currently on staff at Mercy Cancer Center Radiation Oncology, Des Moines, Iowa.

Derek was an amazing and devoted son, husband and father and lived his life for the Lord. He was a compassionate and caring Radiation Oncologist at Mercy Cancer Center and previously at Mayo Clinic. There are no words to describe his kindness and caring.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Gwendolen; children, John and Abigail Ryan, Hannah Shickell; parents, Drs. Fred and Charlyn Shickell of Lincoln, NE; grandmothers, Rose Frahm of Ceresco, NE and Marion Knoll of Burt, IA; sister, Dana (Criss) Butler of Omaha, NE; parents-in-law, Roger and Linda Tjarks of Titonka, IA; brother-in-law, Travis Tjarks of Buffalo Center, IA; nephews, Seth, Caleb and Ethan Butler, Jared and Jacob Tjarks. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Makayla Claire; grandparents, William and Ethel Shickell and LeRoy Frahm.

Memorial contributions may be directed to Mercy Cancer Center or to his children’s college fund. Online condolences may be made at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com.

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