Nine-term Ind. State Lawmaker Lageschulte Dies in Waverly

A nine-term state lawmaker and former insurance adjuster and farmer who was instrumental in getting the state’s beverage container deposit and open school enrollment bills passed in the Legislature has died.

Raymond Lageschulte (LAG-uh-sholt) was 85. He died Saturday at the Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community in Waverly.

Lageschulte took the Iowa House seat vacated by Charles Grassley in 1975 when Grassley went to Congress.

Lageschulte served in the Legislature until 1992.

He was instrumental in enacting the state’s nickel-per-container deposit on bottles and cans, which he co-sponsored. It was enacted in 1978.

In 1989, he was one of the few Republican backers of the open enrollment bill, which gave elementary and secondary student the option to attend school in any neighboring district.

In 1975, Lageschulte opposed attempts to use money in the highway trust fund for other purposes, arguing every penny was needed for the state’s roads.

Visitation is scheduled for Wednesday at Kaiser-Corson Funeral Home in Waverly and a funeral service is planned for Thursday at Trinity United Methodist Church in Waverly.