Dr. Richard ‘Dick’ Bergstrom passed away peacefully at home on Oct. 14, 2022. Dick was born on June 19, 1941, outside of Onawa, Iowa. The farm on which he grew up did not have indoor plumbing or electricity until Dick was a teenager. He worked every day on the family farm, and he was valedictorian of his high school class. He graduated from Iowa State in 1963 as a history major. An Army ROTC cadet in college, Dick was commissioned as an artillery officer in 1963, but deferred his active-duty obligation to attend medical school at the University of Iowa.
While at medical school, he met Sheryl Bergstrom, nee Kuhl, of Aberdeen, South Dakota. They were married on Feb. 4, 1967. After finishing medical school, the Army called him to active duty. He completed an internship in St. Petersburg, Florida, and did on-the-job orthopedics training before being sent to Vietnam in December of 1968. He served with the 22nd Surgical Hospital in Phu Bai until September 1969. Of note, Dr. Bergstrom treated casualties from the infamous battle of Hamburger Hill (Hill 937).
After leaving active duty as a captain, Dr. Bergstrom completed a general surgery residency in St. Louis followed by an orthopedics residency from 1971 to 1974 at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He completed a hand surgery fellowship at the Kleinert Kutz Hand Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Bergstrom was the one of the first surgeons to successfully perform a multiple finger replantation (reattachment) surgery in Nebraska. Dr. Bergstrom practiced medicine for more than 50 years of which he spent more than 40 years in Fremont. He made the lives of thousands of patients better.
Dick’s Swedish heritage was an integral part of his life. He was fluent in Swedish and lived in Linköping, Sweden, for a year while doing a fellowship in arthroscopic surgery. Dr. Bergstrom co-authored and translated an orthopedics textbook from Swedish to English. He was an avid chess player, and he began violin lessons in his 60s. A firm believer in life-long learning, he enjoyed nothing more than reading a good book.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Ethel and Fred Bergstrom and by his brothers Robert Bergstrom and Thomas Bergstrom, M.D.
Dr. Bergstrom is survived by his wife of 55 years, Sheryl Bergstrom and his children, Kirsten Bergstrom of Helsinki, Finland, Lars (Renee) Bergstrom of Lone Tree, Colorado, Annika (Stephen) George of Waterloo, Nebraska, and Karna (Matt) Bock of Leawood, Kansas, as well as 10 grandchildren. Over the years, Dick and Sheryl opened their home to 11 foreign exchange students from Finland, Iceland, and Sweden who are a part of the Bergstrom family. He is also survived by his siblings Patricia Smith, Mary Bergstrom and John Bergstrom. He was 81.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, October 21, 2022 at Dugan Funeral Chapel.
Funeral service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, October 22, 2022, at Sinai Lutheran Church in Fremont.
Memorials suggested to the family for future designation.
Condolences may be left at duganchapel.com
