McELROY, William Keith "Bill"

MCELROY, KIEFER, MERRILL, HILSNE, DAVIS, POWELL, DEVARY, PARKER, OTT, NASH

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 5/8/2016 at 19:07:14

Obituary ~ William Keith "Bill" McElroy
March 06, 1931 ~ January 29, 1996

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
January 31, 1996

William K. "Bill" McElroy, 64, of 425 22nd St. S.E., Mason City, died unexpectedly on Monday (Jan. 29, 1996) at his residence of heart complications.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the Wayside Chapel of the First United Methodist Church, 119 S. Georgia Ave., with the Rev. Sharon Betsworth, associate pastor, officiating. Burial will be in the Riverside Cemetery, Rockford, with military graveside honors conducted by the American Legion Walker-Graper Post #338 of Rockford.

Friends may call from 3 to 9 p.m. today at Fullerton Patterson James Funeral Home, 123 Second St. S.E., where the family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. Visitation will continue from 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home, and one hour prior to services at the church on Thursday afternoon.

William Keith "Bill" McElroy was born March 6, 1931, in rural Rockford, the son of Louis "Pete" and Rose (Kiefer) McElroy. He attended school in Rockford and graduated from Rockford High School in 1948. He worked briefly as a farmhand before entering the United States Air Force in 1950. He served as an Airman First Class on the Air Force Base in San Marcos, Texas, where he was an instructor on helicopter maintenance. He was honorably discharged in 1954, receiving the Good Conduct Medal and National Defense Service Medal.

He returned to Mason City and took a position with Oliver/White Farm Tractor in Charles City. He then went to work for Lehigh Portland Cement Company in Mason City. For 22 years Mr. McElroy was a clerk with the United States Postal Service in Mason City. He retired in 1989.

On Nov. 29, 1959, in Hampton, he was united in marriage to Ruth Delores Merrill. Mrs. McElroy died Feb. 22, 1982, in Iowa City. He then married Lana Rae Hilsne on Sept. 27, 1985, in the Wayside Chapel of First United Methodist Church, Mason City.

He was a member of the United Postal Workers Union local #306. In his spare time, he enjoyed gardening and raising flowers, particularly roses. He was a meticulous caretaker of his lawn. He was an avid fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Minnesota Vikings and Twins, and the Chicago Bulls.

Living family members include his wife, Lana, of Mason City; their daughter, Leslie, at home in Mason City; his children, Alan Davis and his wife, Vicki; daughter Debra and her husband, James Powell, and daughter Lori and her husband, Scott DeVary, all of Mason City; two brothers and their wives, Robert and Kathryn McElroy of Charles City, and Charles and Mildred McElroy of Rockford; two sisters, Berniece Parker of Rockford, and Mary Ott and her husband, Richard, of Greene; eight grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, first wife, one sister, Bernadine Nash, and an infant son, William McElroy Jr.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2016