By HDN staff
VERNON SEDLACEK
PHOENIX, Ariz. Vernon D. "Vern" Sedlacek, 82, longtime Havre businessman, died Monday, July 3, 2000 at a Phoenix hospital of complications from a broken hip.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Saturday at First Lutheran Church in Havre with the Rev. Walter Kirkegaard officiating. Burial will follow in Highland Cemetery.
Sedlacek was born July 25, 1917 in Mitchell, Iowa to Lewis and Myrtle Sedlacek. They moved to Barron, Wis. in 1921, and he graduated from Barron High School.
After graduation, he moved to Minneapolis, Minn., where he met Signe Martinson. They were married on Aug. 7, 1941.
Sedlacek served in the Army from 1942 to 1946, and made captain. He then worked for Dun and Bradstreet in St. Paul, Minn., Lacrosse, Wis., and Butte. The family moved to Havre in 1950. They purchased the Credit Bureau in Havre and owned and operated it until 1979. They also owned credit bureaus in Helena, Glasgow and Livingston.
Sedlacek served as president of the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce in 1959 and on the board of First Bank of Havre from 1960 to 1984.
He was a member of the Elks, board member of the First Lutheran Church of Havre, member and past master of the Masons, and member, past president and past lieutenant governor of the Kiwanis.
He was active in the National Trade Association for Credit Agencies, serving as Montana president twice, president of the Northwest region in 1959, and was on the board of directors of the national organization for several years.
Sedlacek was also a strong community leader. He was chairman of Northern Montana College Development Foundation, spearheading fund-raising efforts to provide scholarships and to raise $350,000 for a new building on campus to house the farm mechanics program. It was reportedly the first building erected in the Montana University System without using taxpayer money.
Sedlacek also served on the board of Northern Montana Hospital. He was chairman during the planning, fund-raising and building of the new hospital.
The Sedlaceks moved to Phoenix in 1992.
Sedlacek was preceded in death by his parents, and his wife, Signe, who died in 1998.
Survivors include two sons, Verne and Stuart, and three grandchildren.
Memorials may be sent to Montana State University-Northern Foundation or First Lutheran Church of Havre.
Holland & Bonine Funeral Home if in charge of arrangements.
