FOLEY, Mel G.
FOLEY, CUDDY, MCMANUS, SKINNER, WENZEL
Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/1/2017 at 15:03:24
Obituary ~ Mel G. Foley
November 17, 1921 ~ June 16, 2003The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
June 29, 2003MASON CITY -- Mel G. Foley, 88, of 49 Winnebago Way, died Monday (June 16, 2003) at his home.
A funeral Mass will be held 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Holy Family Catholic Church, 714 N. Adams Ave., Mason City, with the Rev. Kenneth Gehling officiating. Burial will be in Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery, where full military honors will be conducted by members of Mason City Veteran's Memorial Association.
Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. today at Hogan-Bremer-Moore Colonial Chapel, 126 Third St. N.E. in Mason City with an Athenian Club rosary at 4:30 p.m. followed by a Knights of Columbus rosary at 6:30 p.m. and a Scriptural wake service at 7 p.m.
Memorials may be given to Hospice of North Iowa or Holy Family Catholic Church.
Mel Foley was born Oct. 23, 1914, at Westside, Iowa. His parents were George and Mary Cornelia (Cuddy) Foley. He attended rural school through the seventh grade, and then went to Westside Consolidated school where he graduated in 1931 at the age of 16.
The subsequent year he attended St. Ann's Academy for a post graduate course.
He worked on the family farm for the next six years during the Great Depression. In 1938, he enrolled at Creighton University where he graduated in 1942 with a degree in business administration.
In the fall of 1942, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, serving until November 1945. He attained the rank of Staff Sergeant and spent most of his service in Puerto Rico with the headquarters of the Antilles Air Command.
In January of 1946, he accepted a position as Internal Revenue Agent in Sioux City, Iowa. In 1955, he was transferred to Mason City and promoted to Administration Officer and Audit Group Supervisor.
On Dec. 31, 1973, he retired from government service and then took up a career in real estate which lasted until Dec. 31, 1998.
In May 1946, he married Jane McManus at St. Joseph Church in Carroll, Iowa. Both being of Irish descent, they enjoyred tracing their family trees back to Ireland. In doing so, they made eight trips there and found "new" relatives.
He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Knights of Columbus.
He served on the Holy Family Church Council and also was an usher.
He ws one of the first presidents of the Newman Booster Club and for many years he was the President of the Board for the local Birthright chapter.
Mel bowled 24 years with the Knights of Columbus leagues (men's and mixed doubles).
He also loved playing softball as a member of the Holy Family Church team in the City Church league for a number of years.
Mel is survived by his wife, Jane, two sonsm Greg and Jim, and Jim's wife, Rita, all of Mason City, and granddaughter Kristi Skinner and her husband, Michael, and two great-grandsons, Charlie and Ben Skinner of Lake Forest, Ill., his sister-in-law, Julie McManus of Sun City, Ariz., and 17 nieces and nephews, and numberous friends and relatives.
He was preceded in death by his parents; one brother, Francis Foley and his wife, Helena; two sisters, Edna and Genevieve Foley; a brother -in-law, William J. McMannus; and his sister-in-law, Catherine Wenzel and her husband, Clarence.
Hogan-Bremer-Moor Colonial Chapel (641) 423-2372.
[Interment was made at Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery, Mason City, Iowa.]
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2017
Cerro Gordo Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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